| Have you tried online dating? My guess is that about | | | | for, but back in the 90s you just had to wade |
| half of you would answer yes. I took an informal | | | | through the masses yourself. I didn't have much |
| survey of all of my friends (on and off Facebook) | | | | success at first, but the next year I was dating |
| and about half of them have met their significant | | | | someone I met this way. When I was first trying |
| other on the internet. Times have changed, though. A | | | | online dating, most peple were still meeting each |
| decade ago, very few people had tried it and even | | | | other the "old-fashioned" way - through work, |
| fewer would have fessed up. The first online dating | | | | friends, or in college. The weddings I went to at the |
| service, computer-dating.com, actually showed up on | | | | time were of couples who met that way. It didn't |
| the Internet back in 1995 and was borne out of a | | | | take long for things to change, though. In the 2000s |
| research study in Israel. In the mid-90s, when online | | | | I started attending ceremonies of people who met |
| dating was brand new, it was fairly taboo to talk | | | | online, like Kim and Chris. |
| about it. It was so hush hush that some people | | | | Some of my newer friends have also met online and |
| would even fabricate stories of how they met | | | | are not at all hesitant to discuss it. One of them told |
| someone so that they wouldn't have to let on that | | | | me that he met his current girlfriend on and he said, |
| they tried online dating. | | | | "She winked at me". Don't you also know people |
| The first person I ever knew to try online dating | | | | who have met through match.com, eHarmony, and |
| (and speak of it publicly) was my friend Kim. I called | | | | Yahoo! Personals? Maybe, but have you heard about |
| her an online dating pioneer. This was in 1997, she | | | | these dating websites: and Apparently some people |
| had good luck fairly quickly, and has been with the | | | | just don't want to waste time. Why just go to a |
| guy she met, Chris, ever since. In fact, they are now | | | | general dating website and try and figure out if the |
| married and have a young son. As for me, soon after | | | | people have what you're looking for when you could |
| college, I realized that I wasn't going to meet many | | | | get exactly what you want at one of these sites? |
| single guys while working as a teacher. I got on the | | | | The difference between the basic dating sites and |
| same website that Kim had used, the Phoenix | | | | these seems to be similar to the difference between |
| Personals. Basically, it was an online version of the old | | | | the TV shows The Bachelor versus Who Wants to |
| fashioned newspaper personals (the Phoenix is a small | | | | Marry a Millionaire? |
| but pretty hip Boston and Providence newspaper). | | | | Regardless of what online site you use, at least you |
| Back then, there were no photos, and just a little bit | | | | aren't a member of the Chinese military. News |
| of information available about the potential dates, | | | | reports recently alerted us that China has banned the |
| including a short blurb that they had written about | | | | use of online dating sites by members of its military. I |
| themselves. | | | | Guess the Chinese need to turn off their laptops and |
| Nowadays, the websites do the "matching" for you | | | | go back to more traditional ways of meeting people. |
| based on your interests and what you are looking | | | | I just hope they haven't forgotten how! |