mind over matter

Another quickie today. My friend Megan Brown is writing a three-part series for the Daily Northwestern about her foray into online dating. Going beyond her maverick field reporting, she also spoke with an expert about the stigma attached to internet match-making:

“People don’t want to admit they have to go out and pay for a service,” says Stephanie H. Blake, an assistant professor in the Communication Department of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs…”People your age, in college, are surrounded by people you can meet. Some people see it as a failure, like ‘I couldn’t meet people the traditional way, so I had to go online.’”

 And she’s right, there is something slightly sheepish in admitting you set up a Match.com profile. Perhaps it smells of desperation, the active self-promotion and browsing of potential mates. But in reality, isn’t it a more efficient way of scoring a phone number? Isn’t it more pleasant to gchat with a handsome stranger about your mutual love for Emily Haines and Strangers to Ourselves than to be slobbered all over on a Saturday night at John Barleycorn?

On a related note, a friend agreed to try crazyblinddate.com with me weekend after next, and I’ll be blogging about it afterward for your reading pleasure. I’m not ashamed to admit it, but then again, I’m (a) doing it as a piece of stunt journalism and (b) not doing anything that involves tedious profile customization. If (a) and (b) were not true, would you judge me?