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A decade ago, most people still thought online dating was just for nerds sitting at computers who were incapable of meeting people in real life without first putting on an anime costume and a con badge. Now that the stigma of online dating has virtually disappeared, an estimated 40 million people have tried it. And according to studies, 1 in 5 relationships now starts on a dating website, with one-third of marriages resulting from first connecting digitally.

Those might seem like impressive statistics until you realize that a large percentage of the population is searching for someone special online just as casually as looking up bleeding nipples on Flickr. There are an estimated 54 million single people in the U.S., meaning that if online dating were truly effective, we would be seeing statistics like "75 percent of new relationships begin on the Internet."



Laugh at the spam-bots all you want. You're the one with an OkCupid account.

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So why aren't we? According to science, it's the overabundance of choice that makes you less likely to find a good match. You could find someone online who would make a great match for you in real life, but because they have a different religion, or a child, or are trying to build a death ray to enslave humanity, you move on to the next option. It's like not considering an exceptional deal on a used car because you're holding out for a dealer to pay you to take a brand new one off of their hands.

Then there is the fact that profiles are a terrible way to figure out if you are compatible with someone. I know you've already started blaming all those potential life partners for lying on their questionnaires and posting old photos from when they weighed less than a dump truck full of 50 Shades novels. Bad news: It's not them, it's YOU. Science has proven that people are terrible at consciously knowing what attracts them to others. You might claim to like blondes but then only hit on brunettes. Or you might say you want someone with a great sense of humor and then get embarrassed when they arrange their vegetables to look like a cock and balls at your parents' Thanksgiving dinner. Especially if they do it with a human stencil in the same fashion that kids draw hand turkeys.