Nowadays you can find your next romantic friend on dating sites like Match, Zoosk, eHarmony, Tinder, or Black People Meet. Have these websites replaced the typical locations used to meet people like coffee shops, games, or supermarkets? The major question is, how effective is online dating? I hit the streets asking people how they felt about online dating.
“My cousin Ryan found his girlfriend on the seven-day free trial of Match. He’s planning to propose to her this year. They’ve been dating for 1.5 years,” said an energetic brunette.
“I went to a Tinder wedding and they are happily married and they just had a baby,” said a spunky twenty-something. This chat happened with a few anonymous ladies at an outside gathering in the bay area of California.
All of a sudden rapper Yo Gotti has everyone checking their Instagram direct messages (DM). If it’s not going down in the DM, you might be doing something wrong. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to finding that special someone. How can you make time to scope out hot babes at a local coffee shop, when you’re too busy investing in your future? Dating apps provide a convenient and safe way to check out other singles.
According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, there are over 54 million individuals living in the United States and 49 million have tried online dating.
“I don’t really feel like they’ve changed relationships,” said Tintera Mitchell. Mitchell is a twenty-something woman known by her Instagram followers for her tell it like it is attitude and her sense of style. She often finds romantic advances in her Instagram direct messages. Sometimes she will converse with men she’s met on Instagram.
“Online dating is nothing new, it’s just younger generations embracing the concept, whereas it used to be a means for older people to find love.”
Perhaps Mitchell was referring to outlets such as AOL, Black Planet, Myspace, or the party line. The idea of meeting people via technology is not new. That’s right, people have been building romantic relationships online for years. While there are some skeptics, online cheating is not a concern to everyone.
Although it hasn’t been researched, some women believe online dating websites lead to infidelity and do not trust meeting their life partner online. Popular social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have limited restrictions allowing the freedom to be promiscuous if desired. Both platforms are free and allow private messages to be sent directly to the person of interest. Even though Instagram and Snapchat are not marketed as dating sites, people can easily make romantic connections.
“I send nudes (pictures) to men I date, but there is nothing even close to that on my page,” said Mitchell. “I don’t think it makes cheating any worse just because a tiger won’t change his stripes. A cheater is going to cheat with or without social media.” Mitchell is currently enjoying her twenties dating and maintaining her independence.
According to Pew Research Center, five percent of Americans who are in a committed relationship met their significant others online. Maybe love can be found online after all.
Mrs. Denise Williams
March 17, 2016 at 12:55 am
This was a very insightful article. Thinking back to those old internet worlds, like myspace and such, technology and different forms of virtual communication have become integrated into our human interaction. It is nearly impossible to find someone who does not have an online persona. Consequently, I have often contemplated about this virtual universe; that humans would invent, a virtual realm where we become masters of their own faith. Further proving the logic behind successful companies like: instagram, Facebook, tinder and such. A world where the perfect #selfie could potentially land you, Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now. But for sure, one thing is certain, it goes down in the DM. Thanks Angelisa J. Ross for an excellent article.