This Glamour blog post isn’t the kind of link I usually write about here. But you know what? The author, Gena Kaufman, is dead on about how totally awkward it is to run into real-life connections on dating sites. I don’t know why; that’s kind of irrational, and it sort of makes you cling to the old notions about online dating being a little weird or fringe instead of the totally normal and acceptable method of meeting people that it has finally become. And y et, I too still find it cringe-worthy when I stumble upon people I know while I’m doing client research on OKCupid or something.
Back when I was single and using the Craigslist personals section (believe it or not, it wasn’t always 100% skeezy!), I once came across an ad written by an ex-boyfriend of mine from high school. The ad was perfectly fine, but oh my GOD did it feel weird! I couldn’t handle posting pictures for the same reason in my own Craigslist ads; I simply hated putting my face out there. (I did eventually use pics in online dating, of course, but usually not in Craigslist ads. I would only put them on profile-style sites like Match that absolutely required a pic to get any responses.)
I blogged Wednesday about technology that helps you identify your single friends (LikeBright), and I blogged yesterday about technology that helps you filter out potential creeps (namely, this OKCupid script). But I think Gena’s on to something; what if instead of tech fiddling in all these other improvement areas, we just took a sec to invent a way to avoid running into people we already know, so we could pretend it wasn’t likely that people WE know are spotting OUR profiles? As Gena put it:
In conclusion, I have a new idea for a dating app: One that filters OUT everyone I know. Get on it, tech folks.
Seriously. I would use that app. So would everyone I know so they didn’t stumble into cringey moments of reality. Look, if we’re not supposed to lie about our weight, body type, height, or personalities online, can’t we at least lie to ourselves about how public our search for love is?
Side note; Gena also linked to the following hilarious YouTube video about ridiculously idiotic rom-coms. Gonna have to keep tabs on this funny gal! 🙂 Have a great weekend, y’all! ♥