Friday, July 13, 2012

Retro Dating: The Telephone Chatline

Before the net really hit it's stride people would meet, date and even get married via Phone Dating. These types of phone dating services are making a comeback for several reasons. The phone is more popular than ever in the form of the mobile phone. Young people are calling or texting all the time and people now have their phones with them wherever they go.



Here's how a phone chatline works. You call a toll free number and get assigned a local number from your area code, with which you can call and listen to profiles of singles near you. You can filter the profiles by age and other stats. If you find a profile that interests you, you can leave a message. If that member likes your message he or she can message you back, this can go back and forth a few times or immediately result in a phone conversation between the two interested parties.


There are some obvious advantages to this form of introduction over the typical online dating service. Number one, you can tell a lot by a person's voice - how old they are, their nationality, education level and intelligence level, and if they are crude enough to create a phone intro while the are drunk or stoned out of their minds. You can pick up on a hundred subtle personality clues about a person just by their voice, and manner of speaking. You may not get everything, but it is much easier to hide things behind written messages or emails than it is through phone conversations.

And that is the initial goal of online dating is it not? To get a person's phone number. We all know we can get to know someone better when we talk to them one-on-one. Sadly, this step is often never reached via normal online dating services. More often or not, it's the dreaded email "back-and-forth", which takes time. Sometimes you have to wait up to a day or two to get a response from someone - and people have very hectic schedules these days. What often happens is people end up responding to a number of email messages over a long period of time, which makes it difficult to remember who is who an who wrote what. Only to find out later by the other's person sudden lack of response, that he or she has been distracted or has moved on to "greener pastures".

A Phone chat line may be a bit retro, but sometimes the "old way" of doing things is still, in many ways, the best way. My own experience with phone dating has been good. I have found weekend dates quickly, and even met someone that I am still dating on the regular. What's more, it's really a lot of fun to listen to the recorded introductions of local singles, some are funny, some are a bit crazy, and yes, some are downright sexy!