Blog post #3: Online Dating: Does it really work?

Many people decide to try online dating for the mere fact that there is a limitless amount of choice in terms of potential matches. This is based on algorithms and different categories that one would be looking for. If we look at the dating website Eharmony who gathered statistics from Statistics Canada reports that in 2014, there were 14.2 million single Canadians using online dating. In this day and age, online dating seems like the way for me people. According to Eharmony, there are 36% of Canadians who use online dating, 52.4% being men while 47.6% being women. If we look an article by Global news, they report that according to a 2011 Leger Marketing survey, 36% of Canadians between the ages of 19 to 34 used online dating. So this begs the question, does online dating really work to meet potential single people?

According to an article from 2013 called “Meeting online leads to happier, more enduring marriages,” and based on research from the University of Chicago, they report that over a third of marriages between 2005 and 2012 began online and have resulted in longer and more successful marriages. This article suggests that the reason for this is because of the availability and limitless amount of people to choose from online, as well as the screening process which are based on questionnaires (if answered honestly). Everyone is of course different, and whether or not someone decides to use online dating forums is based on preference.

As seen above, it is clear that more and more, people of all ages, but especially young people are leaning more towards online dating because it is convenience and offers a great choice of suitors, this makes it attractive since you literally have people at your fingertips.