Contributed by: ElyseRomano on Saturday, March 14 2015 @ 11:19 am
Last modified on
Once upon a time, we dated by meeting someone at a bar or through friends. Then we graduated to speed dating. Then online dating. Then mobile dating.
It's been a long, strange road – filled with stigma and scandals and, yes, success stories too – and it's about to get even stranger. Now that online dating is old news, and dating apps have been tried by pretty much everyone with a smartphone, we're ready to tackle a new frontier.
That new frontier is “wearables.” For those unfamiliar with the buzzword-y term, wearables are miniature electronic devices that are, as the name states, wearable. Think smartwatches and fitness trackers. These devices integrate with the user until they practically become a prosthetic, and can be used an extension of the wearer's mind and/or body.
Welcome to the future. It sounds like a gadget from a sci-fi flick, but it's happening now. Towards the end of last year, Match.com launched its first wearable app to be used with Android smartwatches. The app is designed to make it even easier for singles to date on the go by focusing on quick, easy to view features. The list includes:
Match.com isn't the only one exploring the brave new world of wearables. Lunar, a San Francisco-based design studio, created jewelry-like devices to help wearers overcome dating anxiety. One is a pendant that gathers information from your social networks, Netflix habits, iTunes playlists and more, then vibrates when there is a compatible partner in the vicinity.
And let's not forget about Google Glass. Similar wearables are bound to follow, and no doubt they too will change the way we go about meeting and mating.
Newsweek has speculated[*1] about what else we might have to look forward to on the wearables front, and it's a fascinating mix of cool and crazy. They predict a biological approach to dating, in which your body's signals are used to register responses to your dates.
“There will be contact lenses and ear inserts,” Newsweek writes, “all capable of measuring our pulses, our body temperature and other physiological reactions to determine whether or not we are attracted to someone. Those signals will be fed into the dating sites, with their databases and algorithms, all the better to help us find true love.”
And after that? Well, microchips, naturally, and the transition “from humans to cyborgs” will be complete.
For more information on the dating service please read our Match.com review.