THE EMERGENCE of online social networking has changed the way people look for love from a rusty vending machine, where they get to grip an easy picking process, even sexualized, that is.
New technology has given us a number of dating apps, which take the edge off the traditional face-to-face dating practice. These applications seem to have won their clientele by stitching the lives of two strangers on a faster pace and effortless matchmaking by adding a location-based feature that enables users to scour possible partners within close proximity. This system translates to “hooking up.”
With most applications available for free, it is not surprising that they top the charts of Google Play and App Store.
Tinder, a sophisticated version of 90s ‘hot-or-not’ and the youngest of these applications, is perhaps at the forefront of linking potential lovebirds. It boasts of 400 million matches to date with approximately four million new matches per day.
I read somewhere that Grindr, a much older application for males launched in 2009, has seven million users in 192 countries around the world. An average Grindr user supposedly spends two hours a day on the app and logs in eight times a day with over 200 million photos sent every day from different men using their mobile phones.
A number of Thomasians, who possess any device with the latest technological features, probably, have at least one of these applications installed in their devices and certainly someone who is currently reading this column is guilty of such.
However, some Thomasians don’t feel like settling for a talk with an identified user or at least a user with a profile that shows a rigged name, a Google-lifted display photo and an over-prized ‘about me’ section. Others seem to have an overt vigor for seeking the thrill of anonymity and sufficing their curiosity for the who’s who.
Omegle, for those who know it, is an exact case in point. It is an online chatting website that sets a user up with an anonymous person. But since Thomasians want to be in an exclusive circle, the code ‘UST400’ was created.
While it is true that technology, through these online social avenues, bridges the distance between and among people, it is also just for people to know what consequences lie behind the cards laid in front of them.
Unfortunately, many people engage themselves with such applications largely because of some carnal desires. Sadly, this is how many people view love these days. Contrary to the norm, where love comes before any form of lasciviousness, some test the waters by assessing how one is good at sailing the boat.
It is also through these media that physical eligibility falls under a more ideal digital eligibility. This arena is a market where people put themselves on sale hoping that one interested buyer would pick them up from a pool of other merchandise. It is not fair to make yourself marketable by putting things on your profile that may attract buyers even if none of them really relates to you.
Conversely, with some desperate souls trying to live the illusion of being somebody else, they deliberately copy one’s identity and use it instead. For sure, nobody wants his or her innocent identity to be stolen and be used for an auction.
Some, even more desperate, use these means of communication for double-dealing. They pick a person of interest, build a deceitful virtual relationship and start asking for money or any material object only to close the deal when a face-to-face encounter is called for.
It is sad to know how superficial people have become and are still becoming over the years. They would rather spend an hour or two judging people and putting prices on a prospective partner.
A psychologist noted that people would have completely moved on from romanticism if it were not for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, engagements and weddings. It is upsetting that genuine love is vented only during these four events.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with pinning one’s hope on serendipity but he or she should also understand that love is a process that germinates through time and not something that burgeons overnight.
