I don’t know what to think of this. But, to be fair, I’m coming from a completely different point of view.  If you are single and looking to find Ms. Right (or at least Ms. Right-Now), there are a multitude of sites dedicated to playing matchmaker. But for some people, the process of filtering through profiles looking for a promising prospect, making the initial contact and following up is too time consuming. Enter the third party flitering service. For a nominal fee, an online company will take care of the filtering process for you. That way, you don’t have to lose time doing the sifting yourself.

The reason I find this hard to grasp is I came from a completely different angle. I dated in college, and while I was not Mr. Popular on campus, I did manage to atract a few women. When I got out of college and started working, I was single and worried.  I thought that if I hadn’t met the right person in college, I would be a bachelor for life. So, I did dabble in the online matchmaking sites and found nothing compatible. I tried a couple of blind dates, but we all know how well those usually work out. Finally, I looked to the one source that no one ever thinks to tap; future in-laws. I was teaching music at a grade school and the 4th grade teacher knew I was having trouble meeting people, so she set me up with her daughter. 3 months of being friends, 6 months of dating, and 9 months of engagement, we have been happily married for over 6 years. So, I hope that these online sorting sites work.

There’s a report that says teen texting has doubled during the last four years. It also says that there are more children who own their own cell phone and that the use of email and landline telephone has decreased slightly.  I have to wonder why people seem to feel that spending money on this type of research is necessary. I could have told texting among teens was increasing.  I see 10 year olds with cell phones who complain about their parents not having more texting on the family plan. Younger generations naturally gravitate to newer technology.  If they didn’t, we’d still be using sticks to make fire and drawing pictures on the wall. The fun part is to contemplate what the next big trend is? I see more and more technology starting to come out with video communication technology.  Who knows, in ten years, we might be able to talk to people on the coast by looking at our TV and saying, “On screen.”

MSNBC has an interesting story concerning long-distance romances and relationships. Before the internet, long distance relationships lived and died by the phone and written letters. Now, there’s instant messaging services, Facebook, or Second Life among other methods for fanning the long distance flames. I have to wonder how this will affect the quality of relationships. Now, before you start calling me one of those “Back in my day” curmudgeons, think about this. When you have to guage your contact with the cost of a phone call or you wait in agony for the next letter from your sweetheart to arrive, when you finally connect, the feeling is much stronger. Flirting over the phone or in a risque love letter increases your desire to be with that person. And when you do arrange to see each other, each moment is special, whether you’re taking a walk or just sitting on a park bench. Carrying on a long-distance relationship via the internet removes some of that. You don’t get a chance to miss that person, or even learn whether that person is right for you. Maybe I am a “back in my day” curmudgeon, but I wouldn’t have lived my dating years any other way.

Last week a judge ordered a Facebook user to stay away from the FaceBook site due to the fact that he was a well known spammer. Anyone who uses the social website knows that spammers are relentless and I for one give a giant shout out the the judge that handed down this verdict. Spammers have their place on the web but it seems like there are more people working on spamming and scamming then there are people trying to socialise. Hopefully we will see the owners of these sites being more proactive in bringing charges against spammers to help clean up the site in efforts to provide a user friendly experence for legitimate users.