Is blind dating a thing of the past? Let’s compare meeting someone using the internet dating sites vs blind dating.
Robin Wild, August 9, 2024
Blind Dating
Your friend has decided that you need help with your social life so they have set you up with a blind date – a friend of a friend. You accept. Now there you are. You agreed to eat at a Thai restaurant even though you prefer Italian. The entrée has not yet been served but you’re already wishing you were somewhere else.
Your date’s idea of exciting conversation is who will make it into the final four. But you’re not into mainstream team sports. Your date knows the weekly TV schedule verbatim. But you find TV boring. You haven’t sat through a movie in months and as for so-called reality TV? You’d rather watch grass grow.
What you do love is studying history and bush walking and volunteering at the local food bank. But your date always brings the conversation back to mind-numbing topics and even puts you down by asking, “Why waste your time volunteering? You can’t help ‘those people’ anyway.”
That’s it. You look at your watch again. It’s only been 10 minutes since you last looked and you wonder how long it will be before you can gracefully remove yourself.
Internet Dating Sites
Now imagine a date with someone you met through one of the internet dating sites. You checked out the reviews and found that most people only had good things to say about it. For quite some time you’ve been chatting with your date online. After a few weeks you both felt comfortable enough to start exchanging text messages and emails and finally decided to meet up in person.
Of course, you’ve taken all the precautions. You’re meeting in a public place and your friends know where you are and how to stay in contact with you.
Now, you’re sitting in an Italian restaurant enjoying a delightful meal. You feel relaxed because you already know quite a lot about each other including that the other’s favorite food is Italian. The conversation flows easily as you discuss common interests. Your date likes outdoor activities too and has an interest in history just like you do. You happily discuss the volunteer work that each of you find so rewarding.
There is no nagging urge to keep track of the time but when you do look at your watch you’re surprised to discover that it’s late, very late. You can’t believe so much time has gone by.
The best part is it just feels right.
There’s a big difference between a well-intentioned friend “setting you up” and choosing someone for yourself who shares your interests, values and tastes, isn’t there? Or just waiting until the right one comes along? No doubt that’s why these days we hear of so many wonderful relationships that started online.
Featured Image by Daniel Silva Gaxiola on Unsplash