Are You a Googler? Dating in the Digital Age

To Google or not to Google – that is the question that we’re pretty sure Shakespeare would be asking of us if he were still knocking around today.

Back in the day, the rules of dating were fairly simple – you went out with a guy, you conversed and if you liked him, you handed over your phone number. Now, however, the rules are much more complex.

Thanks to a little thing known as social networking, we have the ability to find out literally everything about our date before we even meet them.

We can find out what their favourite colour is, what they work at, where they’re from and what drink they favour after a long day at the office.

We don’t think twice about having a creep on their Facebook page. We have a few sneaky peeks at their friends’ pages to see the kind of people they hang out with, and sometimes, well, we have a quick glance at their ex-girlfriend’s page, just to see what we’re up against like.

This information is right at our fingertips – all we have to do is type his name into Google. It’s as simple as that.

Yes, Googling a guy before a date has now become a widespread practice but there’s just one thing we have to ask: is it a good one?

In fact, here are a few things you should consider before you hit that search button…

Are You Shooting Yourself in the Foot? By Googling a date before you meet him, you’re unconsciously making yourself biased. Everything you read about him, will make you forge an opinion whether you’re aware of it or not. You may think that you’ll be able to remain open-minded on the date, but doing some pre-date-reading makes it extra hard to maintain a level of objectivity.

For example, if you find out that he loves a movie that you hate or if he’s more of a cat person while you’re all about dogs, this could make you ignore his other qualities when the time comes for you to meet him. Instead of thinking: “Okay, so he likes cats but he also loves all this other stuff I’m interested in,” you’ll probably just end up thinking: “Oh my god, he’s a cat person. I never get on with cat people!”

He could be the nicest person in the world but the first impressions (good or bad) that you develop while reading his Facebook profile could taint the overall package.

Everyone Has Done Stuff They Want to Forget…Okay, so he once streaked naked down the road when he was in college and he thought that bitching about his ex-girlfriend on Facebook was a positive way to vent about his emotions – everyone, at some point in time, has done stuff that they just want to forget about. Unfortunately, thanks to social networking, this makes forgetting virtually impossible.

He may have a few dodgy items in his past, but don’t let this put you off. We’ve all done embarrassing things that we regret. Remember that time you thought bleaching your eyebrows was a good idea?

He is Not His Job: Yes, his job may SOUND boring when you read about it on LinkedIn, but it could be way more exciting than you think. Also, it’s just a cliché that all accountants are boring and that all scientists are socially awkward. Forget how he makes his living and let him show you his personality. Just because he has a boring job doesn’t mean that he’s a boring person. Fact.

Not Everything That You Read Online is True: Remember, the internet is famed for being inaccurate, so no matter what you find out about your new beau, bear in mind that it may not be true. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Everyone is innocent until they’re proven guilty.

Is Googling a date the way forward or do you think that taking the time to learn about someone face-to-face is more important? We’d love to hear your views in the comments section below!