No

by Joanne Bell

Created on: September 17, 2010   Last Updated: September 18, 2010

Online Dating. The hidden chance meeting of the one you hope to hold dear. Can one truly find love in a place where identity can be as false as that 55 year old's false teeth. The same man who's dating handle is written as Sexy4U. We, as humans, live to love. It is in the very core of ourselves. We want to be loved and share love. We were made for love. Ever since the Internet became a world wide forum, many different websites have made a profit or benefit from what we hold dear. But are the days of meeting new friends - perhaps a friend of a friend - gone now that the WWW is out on the prowl, creeping up on unsuspecting lovers?

Consider if you will, the number of dating sites online at present: My google search found 143,000,000 results.

One hundred and forty three million websites that discuss or involve online dating, which to me appears completely overboard. The problem is, there are so many people desperate to find Mister or Missus Right that they would look anywhere to find it, instead of telling themselves that they are worth more than that option alone!

Answer for me this simple question. What is appealing - in the world of romance - about scrolling down on a screen over pictures of men or women who may or may not be who is represented? There is far too much freedom for false identity and the Internet allows so much unsaid through lack of facial expression, personal contact and tone of speech. How can one even be sure that the person they are falling in love with are even the same gender as what is on their profile? Who's to say that a woman cannot fill out a male profile just as easily as any man? There are no special secret service online check up's to be sure that people are being honest, so how can anybody really be sure?

So lets say hypothetically a woman in America finds a man (or so is stated on the profile) in England, and she is instantly swept away by words like "Sensitive, Sexy, Muscly, Hard working, Long Walks, Romantic". Can she really be sure that the man is really who he says he is without having actually met him in person first. Where is the chemistry, apart from the lure on the screen before her?

Internet Dating websites are purely fishing sites. They are proving that people don't have to leave the house these days in order to find some personal satisfaction for how ever long or short it lasts. Can the man who is waiting on the other side of the world - who may be balding, overweight and highly insensitive, really be a trustworthy choice? Can the alcoholic woman who has two children and twenty cats really be the most caring person you have ever met?

Once upon a time, meeting people was an event to dress up for, go out with the guys or the girls, and meet new and exciting chances.

The other side of online dating is the freedom of age. Despite the "tick the box" option for saying that yes you are over eighteen and yes you are old enough to be responsible on this site, that no you are definitely not underage, the fact is those sites house many underage children pretending to be older. A fifteen year old is just as capable at filling out a new profile on that website as anybody else. How dangerous is it for our children to be on sites such as these when their innocents can be abused? Websites that are so easily bypassed with that kind of security open up for things such as child abuse. Shouldn't we be setting examples for our teens, and keeping our dating life more adult, in person and more personable? Isn't it fair that we show them the correct way to find true meaningful love and not have them exposed to a web site of potentially hormone filled adults who might take far too much advantage of their innocents?

What ever happened to the chance bump in the street, the star-crossed chance meeting lovers and the romantic love letters in the post. Are we really so techno-aged now that leaving the comfort of our home is less of a comfort, because Sexy4U has told you how beautiful you are, and how much he wishes he could cuddle you? Don't you want to have a man who doesn't wish to cuddle you but actually does it? After all, aren't you worth having the real thing?

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.  ~William Shakespeare, "Sonnet CXVI"

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.  ~Tom Robbins

Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart.  ~Author Unknown

Quotes found at: http://www.quotegard en.com/love.html

Learn more about this author, Joanne Bell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.