Catching Fish

There are plenty of fish in the sea... But where is this proverbial sea?

By now we are all aware that I have been "fishing" in the online dating pool for some time. And by "some time" I mean 2 months. Man, it feels like FOREVER! :) Where has it gotten me in that time?

First, it's gotten me frustrated. I mean, I'm a super social butterfly here with no one to talk to! Why? Because online dating has changed over the years. This isn't my first time fishing the choppy seas. Let's hop into the wayback machine and have a look at online dating in 1997. Yeah, I said 1997.

1997 - Online dating consisted of Yahoo! chat rooms & Messenger. You logged into a chat room and were instantly connected with real, live people who were looking to, surprise of surprises, CHAT! There were local chat rooms where you could find people who lived in your area. There were "romance" chat rooms where you could find people who, like you, were looking to meet people (some for dating, and some for other not so dating purposes). The point is, you were instant messaging (pre-texting era) and actually talking to people.

2013 - How is online dating different today? Glad you asked! Today, you log into a website, write up a profile (say anything you want about yourself, by the way), post a couple of pictures and start window shopping. So what happens next? You find a fish you think you may be interested in and you email him/her. And you wait. They are typically not online when you send your email and you are now waiting for them to get back to you. Before they do though, you can rest assured that they are going to read your profile and they are going to consider every perceived character flaw before they decide whether they will email you back. Gone are the days of a polite, "I'm not interested, thank you". No, it is browse and move on, not bothering to take a chance on anyone who doesn't fit a specific physical mold. People, you cannot tell whether you have something in common with someone based on a photograph. It cannot be done. Trust me. 

Let me ask you, when you walk into a social gathering and you see someone that you think you might have an interest in, do you hand them a profile and an email and then sit across the room waiting for them to get back to you or do you go up and say hello (maybe after rallying some courage) and start a conversation? Exactly! I truly believe that the advent of online dating websites has killed online dating. Leave, as quickly as you can, and head back to messaging, text, chat, social gatherings, and the like!

That being said, I am happy to report that after many fruitless emails, I have finally had the good fortune to encounter a fish that I am delighted to get to know. ;)

Stay tuned...