Image of Donna and husband Sean Deverman
By Sallyann Ficarrotta
With millions of people using online dating sites such as Match.com, eHarmony, OkCupid, and others like them, the possibility of meeting a potential lover increases significantly. CSN student Jorge Vazquez used Facebook and Japanese OkCupid to find a companion while all alone in a foreign country.
Vazquez said, “I just wanted to meet someone that spoke English.” Without the Internet, Vazquez would have to rely on chance to find a companion. Although he met two wonderful people dating online, he said, “It is somewhat of a gamble since you don’t know what you’re going to end up with and most of the time it won’t meet your expectations…there is always that extra something that cannot be expressed through a computer screen.” In other words, there are so many characteristics of a person, and it is impossible to truly know how the two of you would interact in person without experiencing that interaction.
Another way to look at it is, “You have to be open and go in with no expectations,” said former CSN student Donna Deverman. She left CSN last fall after marrying the man she met on craigslist. She said, “We make it seem like only ‘outcasts’ and ‘losers’ and ‘ugly’ people use the Internet to date.” Really, it’s the best place to look for people when looking for something specific. Daters can view full resumes of their potential dates. While using online dating, Deverman noticed, “It can put the old fashioned values back into it [dating]. Some people are there looking strictly for sex and others are really there to make a connection with someone.” Vazquez found friends in another country, and Deverman found her husband online dating. They took a chance online, and it worked out.
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 