As I procrastinate studying for midterms I’ve found myself checking up on my friends from back home on Facebook (don’t we all). I took a quick peek through my high-school’s network, and noticed that several of my friends are now engaged, or dare I say it, having children.

Whoah, I feel old. I quite enjoy being a free college man. And while dating and being single is fun, perhaps I’ve begun to crawl into the dating world.

I spoke with a friend recently about meeting possible significant others, and one of the first questions she asked me was, “Have you Googled him?”

Googled him? I didn’t know that was acceptable. Furthermore, I don’t think I want to discover everything about a potential lover online. The point of going on dates, or so I thought, was to get to know another individual. Most of the introductory questions one asks on a first date pertain to their work, history, family and past accomplishments.

Now, that has fallen to the Great Search Engine of our time.

For fun, I Googled a friend of mine to see what popped up. Their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles were the top three. High school and college accomplishments followed on the next pages. Then I felt nervous.

So, like any curious man, I Googled myself. My social media outlets, unfortunately, didn’t even appear. I share the same name as a prominent designer and architect, one you’ve probably seen around Target. So, I narrowed my search.

“Michael Graves; SMU” proved to be a better option.

My writing, accomplishments, work experience and some family history appeared on the screens. I guess I didn’t realize how much the internet knew about me.

Thankfully, my privacy settings are set to where my mother can barely see what I do outside of home (not that I’m a horrible person, I just keep my life private).

I did realize that not only could a potential date, but future employers look up everything about my life. In fact, in the Communications School, we’re often challenged to see how we can make our name come up in the top ten hits on Google. It’s proved to be easier than I thought.

I found that my pictures from scholarship profiles were also a top hit and let’s just say it’s not the most flattering image. I made a great choice to chop off my large afro at the beginning of freshmen year.

My final conclusion was that I need to really think about how I’m a catch to a significant other. Will they see crazy stories from The Daily Campus, or focus on my previous work with nonprofits? One look at my older pictures could send men running from miles away.

But I did learn something. This whole Google thing is the creepiest thing ever. If I started a pledge for people to not research new love interests online, would anyone sign it? Or do we really like the idea of knowing everything about a person before we sit down for that first romantic dinner? If you’ll excuse the pun, it’s good food for thought.

Michael is a sophomore majoring in communications studies and religious studies.