“Jonathan Ambrose is now in a relationship.” With one click, I sent this feed update over facebook, updating all of my 600 plus online friends on the status of my love life.
While my only intention was to repair some hacked info on my profile, I was soon swamped with a deluge of comments on my update – about ten.
All of this serves to reflect the attention given to both searching for and advertising our love lives online. For a lot of college students, this is limited to Facebook interaction. However, there are a plethora of other online dating services available.
Everyone has at least seen ads for E-harmony, Match.com, and, for your exclusively Christian online romances, christiancafe.com. So, as technology is now available to find our other half, the question begs itself – does it work?
Junior Christian Przybylek did not think so. Przybylek and his girlfriend signed up for E-harmony profiles only to find out they were not matches for each other.
“I think it’s a joke,” Przybylek said. “It’s just not real social integration. And it doesn’t even work for those who are socially awkward.”
Junior Alex Jolicoeur thought otherwise. “It helps people who don’t have the ability to go up to others and talk to them.”
Joliceur registered for an account on E-harmony out of curiosity. “I just wanted to check who they matched me up with,” he said. “However, I feel like I have to meet people to see if they’re my match. I just felt like a creeper.”
First-year Matt Borders was critical. “You can’t build the same sort of relationship,” he said.
Most internet dating services take your information and then claim to match you up with your most compatible partners – for a small fee, of course.
Some ads claim their sites do more than just find others with the same interests, hinting at some magical formula they have discovered.
Sophomore Ian Hoffman did not agree. “I’d just have a hard time having feelings for someone online,” he said. “How do I know they’re really who they say they are?”
Junior Jonathan Little saw it as an opportunity for those whose entire lives are centered around cyberspace. However, he was still skeptical. “I’ve seen a lot of people meet other people online because they are lonely, and it just doesn’t end up working,” he said.
While online dating utilizes the technology at our disposal, it does not appear to be a replacement for face-to-face human interaction.
Pryzbylek does not think that the premise of sites like E-harmony and match.com work. “There’s just no formula for falling in love,” he said.