When internet dating first took off I could not imagine why anyone would entertain the idea.The risks, the potential humiliations, the disappointments, it all sounded either sleazy or scary.

I don't feel like that now. My local hairdressers is a hotbed of gossip and confessions. Spock calls it the coven. The stories recounted in the early years did indeed confirm my doubts. People who sounded so great turned out to be truly horrible. Perfect gentlemen who turned into sexual predators, dates who turned up with their Mum in tow, the romantic meal ruined when his wife arrived, I’ve heard it all.

Then, in time, I started to hear different stories of really happy lasting relationships that began online. A friend was so alarmed when her daughter, divorced mother of 4, started seeing someone that she had him checked out by a private detective. She was right to be wary. Her daughter had been cheated on and abandoned by the man they trusted and loved as a son, and she could not bear to see her distraught again.   

It has turned out to be everything they could have hoped for and more, a marriage of 20 years and a very kind and involved stepfather/grandfather to the young ones. 

Another woman in her 50's had not had a boyfriend for years, her work brought no opportunities to socialise and she rarely went out. She tried online dating at the urging of her sister, and very quickly met a soul-mate. They are still together and enjoying retirement.

Times have changed, some men are nervous about approaching women lest they be rebuffed or thought of as a pest. At least if someone is online they are open to the idea of meeting up for a friendly drink, a walk and coffee in the park.

What do you think, should people who want a partner just wait for fate to arrange it, or accept that technology may be more reliable?

Val

A Moodscope member