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In just over a week, I'll be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary. I'm (happily) so far removed from the single's scene, that I hardly recognize it. And as my oldest children move into the phase of looking for their dream mates, I have seen how much the dating scene has changed in the last quarter century.
When Sam and I met—the old fashioned way, living in the same apartment complex—the internet didn't exist. Now it's become a viable way to meet others and virtual dating is completely mainstream. Who knew this would ever happen?
In order to create this post, I was asked to create a free account at Smingle.com. I'm not at all uncomfortable with technology, but delving into a dating site was odd. In any event, the signup process was simple. (Fortunately, I did not have to select “unsure” for my sexual preference!) Once I confirmed the registration, I was in.
Smingle is a mix of social networking, virtual dating, and online gaming. The site uses cutting edge technology and an easy-to-navigate interface. A Harvard study said:
Virtual Dates cause individuals to develop greater affinity toward one another when they actually meet.
Give it a try! If you're single and looking for love, try a virtual date on Smingle. You've got nothing to lose and maybe 25 years of love to gain.
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
I don’t mean to come off insulting (but I will to some) but if online dating is your next choice, perhaps what you need is to look at how you pursue the opposite (or same) sex, see what you are doing wrong and maybe make some tweaks, not to mention that you may need to be less picky and not expect to find everything you want in a person. Sometimes you have to accept the bads with the goods. What you don’t need is to find an alternate form of love search such as a website that will use comparisons to match people. It’s just not normal, to me love is when you see that person that makes you feel like no other person does, that when you see them you forget about everything else, that when you hear their voice it’s like listening to the sounds of love, that when they are not around you feel like the world is coming to an end. I just don’t see how checking out a person profile in the same manner a company looks at a potential employee is the way to go. The one thing that makes falling in love great is the unexpected; sometimes it’s not what you like but sometimes it’s like getting your cake and eating it too.
I just think that virtual dating takes away that which makes falling in love a real experience and replaces it with a research mission with a side by side comparison feature, a “what I want in a man/woman” filter and a “guaranteed or your money back” contract. Of course, to each his/her own, if it works for you, more power to you. Just my 2 cents.
Charles, I think you make good points. But virtual dating, obviously, has both good and bad elements and I think you’re missing one side of that. It is the very thing that you use to define love that makes it problematic! When people are swept off their feet by emotion, often as not, they end up in really lousy relationships that are doomed. They FEEL great, but are terribly matched. And that ends up feeling really bad.
As I said, I’ve never done online dating. 🙂 But think it’s a great way to wade through some of the incompatibility problems BEFORE the emotional/physical is addressed. In many ways it’s like the old-fashioned parental supervision and courting, where FIRST the couples were matched and THEN they met to see how things might progress.
Given the track record of today’s typical dating, I think we should look at some alternatives!
Don’t know if I want to subject myself to meeting someone this way again … but I know for sure I have some friends in Atlanta that would strangle me if I kept this one from them! Smingle, huh? I wonder if I can use an alias. 😉
Alison, I’m not looking for love online or even dates, but you mentioned that they also have a social networking aspect to it. That sounds interesting. I’ll take a look. Thanks for the review.