“I just want to find someone who appreciates me for me and holds an interest in having a serious relationship.” These words are spoken by most people once they reach the dating age.
Relationships — whether they are based on romance or physical attraction — constantly are shoved into our faces. Rarely is there a movie released not containing a love scene or romantic scenario.
So why can’t relationships work out in real life?
We base our knowledge of the dating scene not only on these movies and personal experience, but also by interactions via the internet.
Not a day goes by when I don’t hear a TV advertisement telling the singles of the world to join a website where they can find their soul mate solely based upon internet interactions.
ChristianMingle, eHarmony, Match.com, Zoosk — the list goes on and on. I guess “love at first sight” is too farfetched in this day and age.
The way Facebook — our social media relief we turn to during a long college lecture — is used makes it almost a dating site itself. When someone posts a picture of his or herself, his or her goal generally is to get the most “likes” and flattering comments on his or her picture — a mood booster and also a way for people to openly be flirtatious.
And even though there have been reports of horrible first-date encounters and constant hoaxes associated with online dating, so many people still choose this method to find their soul mate.
It’s not just back-of-the-woods people who participate in these online relationships, even the well-known have been hoaxed. Manti Te’o currently is the most talked about hoax. And we still don’t know what was real in his “relationship” and what wasn’t.
More importantly, what possesses people to make a fake identity in order to find love?
According to the MTV show “Catfish: The TV Show”, there are five reasons people do this: revenge, homophobia, addicted to attention, sexual-identity anxiety and low self-esteem.
No matter the reason, the idea of fabricating yourself to suit the needs and wants of others not only is deceiving to others, it’s degrading to yourself.
Our society needs to focus more on the social aspects of dating and meeting people in everyday settings. Society needs to bring back “love at first sight” and stray away from love at first chat.