Rural Diaries - live the country life, love the countryside and learn about rural issues

Posted by Sally on January 24th, 2008 in Country Dating

I came across an interesting snippet about online dating in Meadow-Klue’s blog yesterday, which states:

“Staggering to reflect on, but half of the UK’s single population are now logging-on to dating sites. That’s the latest finding from web dating specialists Parship who reckon almost eight million Brits tried online dating last year, an increase of around 50% on 2005. The gender balance is pretty even (52 per cent of men vs 48 per cent of women use online dating). Parship’s UK and Ireland director Tony Blin Stoyle sees higher rates among older people: “UK singles, particularly those aged 30 to 40, recognise that as they get older and their social networks become smaller, they need to maximise their opportunities in order to meet a partner.”

It would certainly be interesting to find out how Parship are coming up with these figures, particularly given the number of online sites that offer free dating for women as they attract more men than women.

However, there is no doubt that online dating is now just as much a part of the dating scene in the UK as the Friday night pub crawl with your friends.

Why does Parship say that as we get older our social networks become smaller? Perhaps a better phrase would have been our social networks with regard to dating become smaller.

Many older people still have a wide and varied social network but the emphasis has shifted from ‘out on the pull’ to couples sharing social activities. This is where it becomes difficult for singles, your friend are married or in partnerships and socialise with other couples. Dinner conversation tends to go from the latest fashions and music trends to dealing with the terrible 2’s and golf handicaps. Friends still remain friends but your interests begin to differ.

I can assure you, from experience, once you get into your mid 30’s and fancy a night out on the town it is not as easy to find friends to go out with. Where once you just rang round and arranged to go out in 2 hours time, now you have to arrange a night out well in advance to give your friends the chance to get organised.

The divorce rate has also contributed to the internet becoming popular for dating. Single parents can log on at any time and chat to people, without the hassle of finding a child minder.

So if you haven’t tried online datig yet then I suggest you log on and give it a try. Have a read through some of my posts that explain how to find the right website environment for you and give it a try.