Love in the digital age

There’s an abundance of online dating stories by us journalists. The only other section, of entertainers perhaps, who are making us look good by continuously talking about the subject, is comedians. 

The recently released 'Tinder in India' video focuses on the difficulties of meeting single men in Indian cities and features both true and false accounts of dates. Nevertheless, it’s tough to tell which character is real and which made up, because truly, every man featured in the video exists in real life. It underlines what writer Mindy Kaling tweeted recently — “Every guy thinks every woman is in love with him.” Indian men on Tinder are more in love with themselves — some even complained that the app was corrupted by a “no matches bug”. 

But our Chinese counterparts prove that they are one step ahead of us. The authors of a study called  Quit Playing Games With My Heart: Understanding Online Dating Scams , found that China’s largest dating site, Jiayuan, was home to wild inventive scams. One involved a restaurant owner hiring a woman to get on the site, invite a guy, run up a tab and let him pay. In another, a man develops an online romantic relationship with a woman, promises to marry her and asks her to send an expensive flower basket to his parents. The man, obviously, is in cahoots with the florist and the profit is shared.  Ever since dating went online, technology has been playing matchmaker along with a host of nagging relatives. However, nothing comes close to the ad posted by Harish Iyer’s mother looking for a partner for her son: progressive, yes, but if a smart, successful, gay rights activist cannot find a soulmate on his own, then what are the chances of smart successful women finding one through dating apps?