This leads me to a discussion on blind dating. Traditionally, you could get "set up" by a friend or family member to go out on a date with someone you've never met. You get to the restaurant and have no idea what this person looks like or anything about them. Today, however, things have changed. My argument is that blind dates are no longer "blind." With social networking cites, you can easily look up a photo or even more information about the person you are being set up with. For example, I just set my friend up with one of my other friends for our date party. Immediately, she said she was going to go check his Facebook. Now, before the date party, she knows exactly what he looks like and what his interests are. Also, with cites like Match.com, it's even easier to obtain information about your potential date. I'm curious to see what the rest of the class things about this topic of blind dating. Do blind dates exist??
I think blind dates DO exist if, perhaps, you are of an older generation, or completely disconnected from the vast digital world surrounding us. But honestly, you can only learn so much from someone's Facebook account. Yes, you can see if you are physically attracted to a person by looking at their default picture, and maybe start to understand what some of their interests are from their About Me section. However, these aspects are only superficial; the process of going on a date - having to hold a conversation, seeing if you "click" with that other person - has to build on so much more than a paragraph of information that you can find online. In college, I do think there is no such thing as a blind date, because Facebook is so pervasive in that social scene. However, when we go out into the "real world," I think there is still hope for blind dates.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Lauren! I think that we're only looking at our generation and disregarding that many adults aren't involved with social media sites, let alone even know what Twitter or Facebook is. I don't feel that most people - aside from us college students completely obsessed with "Facebook stalking" - have the time or interest in getting as involved. Sure, like Lauren mentioned, the idea of a blind dating in college just isn't possible because being involved with these social media sites is part of the social scene, but there is a such thing for a lot of people!
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Lauren and Dani that among older generations, who may not have online profiles, truly blind dating may still exist. But I also agree with their opinions that online profiles can only reveal so much. For instance, if someone is very sarcastic, you may get a hint from their profile, their posts, updates, or photos, but this characteristic may not come across until a personal encounter.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now it's "vision impaired" dating, because you can see a limited glimpse of the person before you meet them. I do agree with you, Allison, that much of the truly "blind" aspects of dating have been removed as people can easily check out each other's profiles in order to prepare for the date, and perhaps interact with the person in a way that they had planned, and would not have acted otherwise.