Economic depression sparks search for loveThe New York Times reported on a recent article that in spite of the dismal economic status of the USA – jobs lost, national debt soaring, financial indexes down – online dating sites seem to have taken a positive turn in the last few months. For example, top online site Match.com has just reported its best fourth quarter in seven years. Traffic has increased in both free and paid-for sites: free dating site Plentyoffish.com reported a 77% increase in traffic between December 2007 and December 2008. Markus Frind, chief executive of Plentyoffish, offers one explanation for this: “During recessions people stay at home more, they don’t want to pay and go to bars. They’re going online to meet each other.” There seem to be more reasons: as job demands decrease (or disappear altogether) people have more time to surf and browse online dating sites, which is significantly cheaper than going out in the hopes of meeting someone. But there are also deeper reasons for this surge in love-seeking, as proposed by Dr. Pepper Schwartz, relationship expert at Perfectmatch.com:
This is an unexpected but heart-warming silver lining to the recession: people are again focused on looking for love instead of centering on their potential matches’ assets or careers. This point was made by Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman, a New York psychologist who wrote “Dating From the Inside Out.” Dr. Sherman said, “There’s so many aspects of a person, it’s kind of sick that we only focus on jobs or money.” So even if you have been hard-hit by the depression, cheer up: there are plenty of others out there in a similar position, and it might change your life to join them in the search for real love. |
|
Write a Review