I’ve never really been very tech savvy and as for my abilities in the dating world, well they can vary from disastrous to stellar. With all the different channels to interact with someone, it does not get any easier. There’s Facebook, Twitter, online dating sites, email - it can be incredibly complicated to master your skills in the wake of multi-medium communication.
The days of spending half an hour on a text or scripting an answer machine message are over, the time this takes is a luxury that today’s dater can no longer afford. It seems it’s all about the fast and the furious with no time to slow down. Playing the waiting game in between answering a message is almost impossible as whilst you’re debating how to best draft a Facebook message, you’ve updated your status, written on someone’s wall etc, and then the mysterious, too busy you has been exposed! Whilst your private life is exposed on a grand public scale, so are your levels of interaction. To be coy, you have to much much cleverer about it.
After talking this over with a friend, we came to the conclusion that the many channels with which to engage with someone were more of an advantage than a disadvantage. Once mastered, these new tools at our disposal can be incredibly helpful. For example, messaging online allows you to demonstrate your more composed, articulate side – the side of you that is rarely shown if you’re a nervous babbling wreck the first couple of times you meet someone. First impressions count for everything and unless you’re fortunate enough to be perfectly smooth, charismatic, charming from the word go, you won’t get a second chance. Remember that brilliant scene from the movie Swingers where Mike (Jon Favreau) hopelessly attempts to leave a message on a girl’s answering machine?? Forget it, the days of being cut off by the machine, incoherent mumbling and all things bizarre are also long gone.
We also mused about the democratisation of information that would not be available to us through traditional mediums. Ever googled someone you just met/ started dating? You can unearth some brilliant information and at least you won’t agree to second date with an axe murderer. Additionally, Facebook can be very helpful – relationship status, photos (are they pictured with a different girl/guy in every other photo?). You get the idea. What is also amazing, is the amount of people you are exposed to at any given time. Your potential dating pool has gone from baby size to epic olympic proportions. Anyway, we thought it would be useful to strategise, advise and generally wax lyrical about the world of online interaction. So every now and again, be sure to look out for our tips & tricks for the dating game and its new rules!
If you liked this, then you’ll be all over Shopping For Boys and our new series of Online Adventures!
