Dating: Just a click away

Internet the new cupid It’s almost February, the month dedicated to lovers. I realise its important for people to celebrate their love but it’s the craze that engulfs this month that gets to me. It almost feels like an abomination to be single during this month. Consequently, January is the month the singles ensure that they change their status, by whatever means necessary. Woe unto you if February finds you single whether your being single is optional or not in February someone might mistake your lack of a date for a plague. I know it’s disappointing but it’s the reality. February is a month of love and there is nothing you or I can do to erase that fact sad as it may be. I wish it was easy though to just go into a shop and buy a date or that special someone that will get everyone off your back and assure you a Valentines Day worth its meaning. But not to worry times have changed we are no longer in the days when relationships was so complex and limiting. Education, shopping, games are all a click away thanks to our technology. Today, even dating has been brought right at our fingertips just a click away. Making internet the new cupid and ushering in online dating. Wikipedia defines online dating as a ‘system which allows individuals, couples and groups to make contact and communicate with each other over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a romantic relationship’. Online dating services usually provide unmediated matchmaking over the internet, through the use of personal computers or cell phones. Registration to these sites is mostly free though some sites charge membership fees. Online dating services require a member to provide personal information, before they can search the service provider’s database for other members. These sites allow members to upload photos of themselves and browse the photos of others. Sites may offer additional services; such as web casts, online chat, telephone chat, and message boards. Online dating has been compared to ‘date shopping’ because its possible to log on to a dating site and look around for who you want with the benefit of taking your time to decide and then pursue the one person you feel will complement you. Online dating seems to have hit people like a storm and I couldn’t believe its existence until I met Mike and his wife Sarah who narrated to me how the internet brought them together. Mike, a Kenyan, was working in Kigali at the time and greatly desired to meet a girl from his country. A friend of his suggested online dating sites, a suggestion he responded to with shock. “I wanted to date but online dating seemed so vain and unnatural to me,” Mike explains. However he logged on to and created an account with ‘Myspace’. The next day he was just browsing other people’s accounts when he came across Sarah’s profile. “I e-mailed her and she responded immediately. I was so excited,” Mike confesses. Their relationship bloomed and by the time they got to actually meet they were already in love. “When I met him I knew he was the one for me, and although people didn’t seem to believe it, I already loved him,” says Sarah happily. The two got married later and they both agree they are happy with each other. Their story is beautiful and inspiring but internet dating with all its glamour has weaknesses. Online dating can be risky as one can never be sure of the people you end up meeting, if at all you do. There are many fortune hunters who try to lure you to become their lover so that they can take advantage of you, some can even rob you. There are also many people, who are so desperate to find a partner that they hide their real personality and pose as people that they are not. Some people also lie about themselves and it’s really disappointing to find about it later when you already like the person or when they are already in your life. The debate of how right or wrong online dating is may vary but one fact remains, cupid is round the corner. This time round, if you are still wondering what to do on February 14 and who to do it with, your answer may be just a click away. Contact: pgathoni@gmail.com

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Dating: Just a click away