Generation X-ers, millennials or old timers; 80’s, 90’s or noughties kids. No matter what age bracket you fall in you are all in the same boat. The dating game has changed and are you ready for it? Gone are the days of bumping into your future half at school or being introduced through a mutual friend. These days its statistically proven that you are more than likely (45% likely) to meet your partner through some sort of dating app or online dating service, up from 19% in 2005 and 34% in 2012. Shit if these figures continue to trend the way they are now by 2040 you will only get to meet anyone online.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW…

MATCH.COM
Match.com is the most widely used dating site in the world and has nearly 1.8 million subscribers. It works in the most traditional way: Simply create a profile, check out your potential matches, send them a few messages and then arrange to meet for a date. The love-gods at Match also arrange singles events and provide online dating advice, so it’s easy to see what makes them one of our best online dating sites.

EHARMONY
If you are serious about looking for that special thing called love, then this is the site for you. eHarmony take this match-making lark very seriously, making them one of the best online dating sites around. They’ve even patented the eHarmony Compatibility Matching System. That’s right. They’ve taken 35 years of research to come up with a Relationship Questionnaire and pride themselves on matching users with people who are actually compatible with them.

TINDERELLA
Tinder? Based totally on looks. We choose our 5 best pictures, spend a good 10 minutes wondering what to put in our bio before just settling on our occupation and then begin to swipe. After matching with a couple of guys getting the usual, ‘hey, you ok?’ you get one with an interesting pic. You exchange a number of pleasant messages back and forth, share a bit of banter and you start to think, ‘Oh this guy’s alright.’ Then you get the message that ruins it all – “send nudes?” Unmatch.

PLENTY OF FISHING
Plenty of Fish works by asking users to take a special POF Relationship Chemistry Predictor test, which measures self-confidence, family-orientation, self-control, social dependency and easygoingness. You’re then matched to those most compatible to you. A bit more relaxed than Tinder but not as serious as eHarmony and Match.com.

IN SUMMARY
In a survey Marbella Rocks conducted based around online dating experiences, when asked, “What were your reasons in signing up?” one respondent answered, “I wanted to get balls deep in some vag.” Stay classy. Fifty percent of people signed up out of boredom, whilst 37% did it because their friends encouraged them, with an additional 37% admitting to using it to find a boyfriend/girlfriend.
There might be an occasion when the conversation goes so well that you get a date that does not take place in his bedroom. In comes the Catfish fear. What if he looks nothing like his pictures? What if its awkward or we having nothing to talk about? Your friends will inevitably force you to go; you meet and move on…

I am not saying The Modern Dating Game is an entirely bad thing. It’s just sad that we only seem to meet people when we’re either drunk, on a dating app or sometimes both at the same time.

Where is the human connection? People are too scared of intimacy and commitment because they would rather go on a night out and hook up with a bunch of people than tell somebody how they feel.
We need to change, we need to stop being scared to text first, we need to stop letting people string us along, we need to tell each other how we feel. But most importantly, we need to stop Netflix and Chilling.