I was at a group dinner recently with a bunch of well travelled and experienced women. I happened to be sitting at a table of people I hadn’t met before so it was a case of getting to know people from scratch. There were 6 of us at the table and as the wine started to flow the conversation turned from the safe: married – yes/no, kids – yes/no, work, etc to the good stuff.

One of the women mentioned that she had had no luck finding a partner in life with cliché lines like “all the good ones are married or gay”. Then to my surprise out popped the simple question that only a year ago would have made people gasp “Are you online?” After a quick survey around the table we realised that five of us had been online and two of us had found partners we were still with.

What are the odds? I never mention to people that I found my partner online because in the past this has caused a furrowed brow and ‘that look’, quickly followed by the simple statement “Oh…”. Was internet dating suddenly cool? And when did this happen? Obviously I had missed the revolution of women who were suddenly confident enough to put themselves out there online and admit it publicly!

I think it is important to say that this table was made up of Gen Y, X and in-betweens. So online dating is not just for the very young or very old but has been embraced as a way of life for some.

I remember my foray into online dating very clearly. I was at a function where I bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen for over a year. In the past we had remonstrated together about the lack of single men in Melbourne in our age bracket (mid 30’s) over many glasses of wine. So I was very surprised after asking her how she was doing, to have a diamond ring thrust into my face with the simple statement “I’m engaged!”. How did this happen? When did she have time to go out and meet someone? I was right, she didn’t. She met him online…

I have to confess that ‘the look’ came over my face and the “Oh…” came out of my mouth before I could think about it. But after a long conversation about the pros and cons of internet dating, I decided why not, what did I have to lose.

Who knew that I had stepped into a realm of coolness that I didn’t know existed. Next time I’ll tell you about some of my experiences and what to look out for online.

Guest contribution by Julie Allen @ www.thefullpretzel.com.au

Editors note:
If you’ve had an interesting or note worthy experiences we’d love to hear about them in the comments below!