Online dating is social suicide

Daniel Elliot, OP-ED Editor
February 7, 2012
Filed under Opinion

As we leave high school, some of our friends are going to marry their high school sweethearts. Then, as we leave college, more of our friends are going to be getting married. As we near our late 20s, most of our friends are going to be married, and those who aren’t married are going to be in a committed relationship at least. What do those that are single at this stage do though? For the most part, they panic and try to get married, for they do not want to miss out on the fun that all the married couples are having. Now with all the technology that we have in this day and age, it is easier than ever for these singles to get married. One of the main ways we are using this online technology to get married is online dating.

In online dating, you can sign yourself up on one of the thousands of sites found throughout the internet and try to connect with singles who say they have the same vague interests as you say you have. You can talk to each other through the site, browse the others’ pictures, and when you’re both ready, you can choose to meet somewhere to see if either of you got your profile pictures off of Google. Now that you have met who the site will claim to be your soul mate, you can talk for a few hours, go on another date, then bam! Married! It’s the perfect way to get find your other half, right? Wrong. People need to understand the grave dangers that come out of online dating.

To begin with, when you date online, there is no physical confrontation unless you choose to have it. All you’re doing when you online date is hiding behind your bright little computer screen and waiting for the website to pair you up with someone. When someone practices this too often, they could lose touch with how we are supposed to meet people, by actually acting out those activities we swear we do online. There is no pressure on what to say online because you are just emailing or instant messaging this person. You can rethink what you say a thousand times before actually pressing that send button. You don’t have to have your vocal chords tuned to be able to sound intelligent on the fly, like you have to be when you’re trying to meet people at a rock climbing club or at your fencing class.

Freshman Shayla Cole said, “I would rather meet a person in person instead of online. People online can lie.”

Another bad thing about these online dating sites is that anybody can use them. For all you know, the cute guy you are meeting that says he likes writing poetry and eating sushi could actually like abducting women and kicking puppies. That would be a real downer, wouldn’t it?

Now most of you must be thinking, “No! I could never be abducted by a person online! Who would lie about themselves online while trying to meet someone that they are attracted to!” It can happen to anybody though. In Germany, a man by then name of Christian Grotheer met a 26-year old girl on an online dating website. He was quoted saying he only “touched her on the throat” and she dropped dead. Is that what you want to happen, to be killed by an internet prowling wizard from Germany? I know that’s sure not the way I want to go out, so I’m probably going to stay away from the online dating sites. I think I’ll just meet soul mates at a rock climbing class like a normal person would do. You best do the same.