Jesse Hamer

Love and friendship are only a click away.

The online dating scene is increasing in popularity. Sites such as Yahoo Personals and Match.com are doubling membership yearly according to BusinessWeek.com.

Most online dating services charge a fee for people to chat and exchange information. Yahoo Personals charges anywhere between $7.50-$19.95 depending on how many months a person signs up for. At eHarmony.com it costs anywhere from $21-$49.95 a month. Most sites follow a basic set-up of searching for singles, creating a profile, and subscribing to contact.

How many people are using these web services to meet people? According to date.com 24.3 percent of singles are using or have used online sites to meet people. But what about at SDSU?

Joe Small, a biology major from Watertown, says that he’s never talked to anyone he didn’t know on the Internet. He says he’s “nervous they aren’t who they say they are.” Ryan Whisney, a senior wildlife and fisheries major from Jackson, M.N., says he’s talked to people he met on the Internet, but has never met them. He doesn’t think it’s dangerous, but he just wouldn’t want to meet someone that way.

So why do people meet online instead of dating traditionally? Although research has been done on the topic it is hard to come up with a concrete answer.

Meredith Redlin, who teaches sociology at SDSU, thinks it must have something to do with the delay of social nervousness. She says it also makes it easier for people in small rural communities to meet people they don’t already know.

“It’s just another way to meet people,” says Ron Stover, who teaches sociology. He says in the old days there were blind dates and this is sort of like a spin off of that concept. The big difference is that the physical aspects are gone for the most part.

Audra Markwed, a fifth-year senior majoring in art and Spanish from Brookings says that she has never had the desire to look at online dating services. She thinks it could be dangerous because “that person could be lying.”

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