Do We Hide

So I tried Match. You know, the website. Because I was tired of not dating, and I'd heard some good success stories. And I thought, if nothing else, I might go out once in a while and feel like a normal human being because I was on a date.

It wasn't for me. I gave it a good shot, but it just wasn't.

But it has me wondering. Do we hide behind our technology? I mean, we've all heard the crazy stories about people who live through their avatars. So they set up these lives online and then they get married...virtually...to someone else's avatar. And they buy homes, and clothes, and food. And in my mind, I think it's just crazy that you'd ignore your real life for a make believe life on a computer screen.

But that is the extreme, right?

This is what I noticed about online dating. People hide behind the technology. You can email or IM someone for a while. And that is easy enough. Nothing really personal about it, you know? Just words on a screen. Then comes the exchange of phone numbers. One might think that this would lead a person to make a phone call. But what it usually leads to is texting. More of the impersonal. More of just the words on the screen. Back and forth. No way to read emotion, really. Besides silly emoticons or whatever you want to call them.

You would expect that a grown man could pick up a phone and make a call. And I'm fine with the emails and the texting and the IMing. It's a find place to start. However, I am not an avatar and I don't want a pretend relationship. I want face to face contact. I want to hear a human voice ask me out on a date.

But it's not just in online dating. No one wants to call anyone anymore. It's too much of a hassle. It's so much simpler to write a message and click send and wait for someone else to reply. Don't get me wrong. I do it, too. But really, I mean really...what are we hiding from each other for? And will we all end up hermits, holed up in our homes and hiding from others? I sure hope not. I just wish people could be more responsive. More in touch. More willing to reach out.