Online Dating...or Not

I've never been one for technology. It kind of stresses me out. Case and point: I'd rather spend hours and shovel 24" of snow with a good, old-fashioned, handy-dandy shovel than turn on the snow blower in a fraction of the time.

But these days, it seems that no matter what you want to do you have to use technology. Gone are the days of walking into a place of business and speaking with them face-to-face and then handing them your resume--that's something else I've been struggling with, but that's a tale for another time--or going out to pick up guys/girls. Oh, don't you worry, Millenials, there's an app for that.

Well, newsflash, what if we don't want an app for that. (Read: "I don't want an app for that.") There's something to be said of the attractive excitement of interacting with a flesh-and-blood human being...without having to spend interminable amounts of time sifting through one profile after another, and then waiting for them to potentially reply, and then conversing back and forth sufficiently to arrange meeting in person. Only to find, their pictures "were just a little old" (as in 5 years and 100 pounds--not in their favor--old).

I'm dubious about the whole thing. For one, it's not fair to others like me. How many people who would have after even a moment's real-life interaction with me found me passably attractive to continue the acquaintance, "swiped left" because I'm not photogenic. (Unlike the person above, I keep my pictures current so you know that who you see is who you'll see.) If they do look beyond the picture, they are then going to read your personal resume to see if they would like to chat with you. That's right. Online dating is just trying to sell yourself to another faceless, nameless person whom you may or may not be interested in. If you tout your attributes one way, you're cocky; if you diminish them, you're boring.  And if you don't market your description just right, no one is going to give you a second glance--and you won't even know. Why? Because it's all online.

I've been making more of a concerted effort in 2016 to go on  A date, so I've been more attentive to my online dating services now that I have been previously. Results: same as they were with the last dating sites. 85% of communication to me is from men twice my age, give or take 5 years. The remaining 15% is from men half a foot shorter than me, and significantly younger.

Obviously I am attracted to the wrong kind of guys, because they aren't looking my way or responding to my messages. But it's only been a month, so we'll see how this play out. As for now, I still am not a fan of online dating.

...Now to go submit job resumes...online.