<p>Recent threads on Shyness, No Dates, Unwanted Dates, Getting Dumped, have prompted me to look in Craigslist while I was looking for studded tires and bicycle accessories. Most of what I found on Craigslist was disheartening but some are very good. </p>
<p>I commented to my cousins that we found our respective mates and pretty much married by our late 20’s. For some reason, the kids’ generation are still very much still dating or not, searching, or no hurry. </p>
<p>What gives? They are smart and talented. Attractive. From pretty good parents. ???</p>
<p>I think they are developing their own course & from my POV, are not eager to repeat what they may consider their parents " mistakes".
Not everyone wants to be paired up in their 20’s, especially considering how many people I know who are in their 90s
;)</p>
<p>Craigslist is the cesspool of bizzare dating material. Normal young people do not look for dates on Craigslist. A young lady explained to me how modern dating for 25+ yr olds works: meet during an event, look up the person on Facebook, send an invite to “friend”, then ask if they want to meet for coffee, and so on. “Match dot com is for old ferts!” that was the verdict.</p>
<p>Agree that match.com is for old farts. Just went to a school function and found that another couple I know met on match.com. You’d think that the internet was invented just so the over 50’s could meet and maybe marry!</p>
<p>My question, as a 24 year-old (in a committed relationship with a 31 year-old), is, why do you think this is strange? Why should people be on some sort of arbitrary relationship timeline? Why does it matter whether they are paired off by their late 20s? And what on earth do their “pretty good” parents have to do with it?</p>
<p>Also, I agree with BunsenBurner, I don’t think anybody I know would look for dates on Craigslist. Craigslist is where you look for apartments, or possibly furniture. Looking for a date there seems like an invitation to ending up with a psycho.</p>
<p>There are a lot of ways in which people can find and ask for dates - various dating sites, social e-mail lists, hobby-related group gatherings, social networking sites, various instant messaging applications, their own social groups, etc.</p>
<p>In talking with some college aged student workers in my office, I asked the same question. They pretty much attributed getting married later to more kids going to graduate school, law school, and med school, giving them a later start on a real job and the ability to support themselves.</p>
<p>I agree with Jessie - I am 24 and getting married soon, and I don’t think there is or should be a ‘timeline’. What’s right for one person isn’t always right for another.</p>
<p>I think people my age just tend to focus on other things: buying a house, building up savings, travelling, getting a job… relationships have to come after all the practical things are sorted. </p>
<p>Re: grandchildren - my aunt told my cousin (early 30s) that if he wasn’t going to give her grandchildren any time soon, could he at least give her a grand-dog? LOL</p>
<p>Strange. I’m 26, and know several couples my age who met on match, and, i know quite a few more who met on places like eharmony.com. I just moved to a brand new city to start my pediatrics residency, and decided to try chemistry.com which has worked well (though had I not met my now current girlfriend, I would have been pretty disappointed with site). Pretty much everyone my age I’ve told that I used the internet has been very supportive and most simply say it’s just another tool.</p>
<p>Location of course still plays a really big role in what’s considered socially normal. In my midwestern homestate, getting married out of college was certainly a common occurrence, and certainly if you were 24 or 25 and had been in a relationship for more than 2 years, people absolutely ask when the wedding is going to be. However I made some friends in Chicago last year during a concert, who were 25 and had been dating since their Junior Prom, and they laughed like crazy when I asked them if they were getting married soon. They’re exact quote was “we’re only 25, why would we do that.”</p>
<p>People are living longer and therefore are getting married later because we can afford to do so. Women are starting to think for themselves and don’t necessarily want to put a hold on their career by settling down/getting pregnant. </p>
<p>At least that’s what I would think. I’m hardly of the marrying age, but I don’t imagine myself getting married anytime soon, anyway.</p>
<p>After having survived the NYC dating scene in the 70’s and 80s I think the networking sights would have been a fun option to try. As far as match.com, my husband’s coworker (30 something) met her husband there, but I have other friends (older, 50 and 60) who said it was filled with freaks. Who knows.</p>
<p>A friend from NJ recently told me she was a guest at a wedding where the couple met on J-date. The officiating rabbi said that 90% of the couples he marries these days have met that way.</p>
<p>That would be alot more efficient than wasting time going on a zillion first dates that end up going nowhere! I had a friend back then who used to go to Jewish singles dances at her synagogue but didn’t have much luck. I wonder if they even have those now!</p>
<p>Mutual friends and family is still a good way for folks to meet potential mates. That’s how my younger sister & BIL met. I don’t know anyone who has met via the internet for a romantic relationship/marriage but then again I don’t ask too much & mostly know folks that are married & have been for many years (20+ & some 50+). Most of the marriages of my friends & extended family remain intact, tho 2 have gotten divorces the other dozens are still happily married.</p>
<p>I’ve actually been quite surprised at home many online dating couples I know. I wonder if it’s now more acceptable to admit that you met online.</p>