Come clean, please:
Do you always Google someone before a first—or second—date? (Because if you’ve met someone online, you usually don’t know his/her last name until after the first date, right?)
How long do you wait before you type in his/her name into your computer?
The last time I Googled a recent date, I was led to a long article about him and his former wife.
Did I really need to know how they’d decorated the home they once shared—and the name of their dog?
Uh, not yet.
I used to be a researcher in New York City, so my curiosity often gets the best of me. But all that information is just too much to swallow all at once. Do you know what I mean?
I’m vowing to put a stop to Googling dates. At least until we’ve gone on a few of them.
There’s something to be said for spontaneity. (Even if I’m itching to know how much money he contributed to the Obama campaign and if we have any friends in common on Facebook.)
In a “Modern Love” column for the New York Times—“So, Tell Me Everything I Know About You”—writer Joanna Pearson put it this way:
“I realize it’s hard to resist the impulse when we live in an age of nonstop access ... But in the long run, it’s a little less interesting, isn’t it? Just as when you turn the corner and find yourself face to face with your cute new neighbor.”
On this note, Crazy Computer Dad also sent me Judy McGuire’s most recent piece on CNN, “Dating—What NOT to Say When.”
“There are many things you should not talk about on the first few dates. Still, living in a post-privacy world begs the question: How much information is too much information? Negotiating the privacy line becomes especially crucial when dating someone new.”
(You can read Judy’s modern-day dating guidelines here.
In the meantime, do you always Google your date early on?
Or, do you refrain and try to get to know him/her in person first? If so, how long do you wait before you Google?
And if a man Googles me, oh Lordy, he’s in for some surprises, isn’t he?
