The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has forced most of the world’s governments to issue some form of stay-at-home or lockdown order.
Why?
Succinctly stated, this virus has swept, and is sweeping across the globe, resulting in more than 5.34 million infection and 340 696 fatalities. Not much is known about this virus’s behavior, even after dealing with it for nearly six months. Researchers and scientists are attempting to learn as much about the virus’s behavior as possible so that better treatment options and a vaccine can be developed as soon as possible.
What is known is that it is highly contagious, it is spread via droplet infection via person to person transmission, and that one of the only ways to control its rampant spread is social isolation or social distancing. Thus, over 50% of the world’s population is at home, waiting for the pandemic to burn itself out. However, life, albeit in a different form, must go on.
And socializing, meeting new people, and dating is part of life. Therefore, the question that begs is, how do you meet new people in a world where everyone has to stay at home?
Online, speed dating: The way of the future
The straightforward answer is online dating. The option to date online and chat with people has become a viable option, if not the only option, to meet new people during the COVID-19 lockdown. And, one of these options is what is known as speed dating.
What is speed dating?
Speed dating, according to Wikipedia.com is defined as a “formalized matchmaking process which has the purpose of encouraging eligible singles to meet large numbers of new potential partners in a very short period of time.”
By inference, online speed dating follows the same principle. It is just enacted in the online space. And, by way of expanding on this topic, let’s consider the most important benefit of online speed dating.
A typical speed dating scenario is where a gathering of people who do not know each other, meet in a room and are divided up into pairs to spend a certain amount of time, or quickfire dates, with each other. Once the allotted time is up, the pairs reform and get to know the next person in the room. This process continues until everyone has had a chance to chat with every other person in the room. If two people express an interest in having a second date, they can exchange contact details and arrange another meeting.
The digital speed dating option works in a similar manner. When an individual signs up with an online speed dating service like LuckyCrush, they are connected randomly to chat via video chat with a large number of people of the opposite sex. Should they wish to terminate a chat, they can do so and move onto the next person. On the other hand, should there be a match or connection between two people, they can continue chatting indefinitely.
