My friends and I were talking at lunch recently and pondered the question, “Where are all the good guys?”

The entire group agreed that it was so difficult to meet potential “significant others” around campus, and when we did, they all end up being a bad match. We wished that people would just wear signs around their necks that posted their interests, pet peeves and favorite things so we could browse around and pick who we wanted to get to know.

Then it dawned on me. We already have that.

Online dating has grown popular in recent years and isn’t dying off. Not only are people joining E-Harmony, Okcupid, Grindr, Match and others, they’re solely relying on those sites to meet people in their areas.

I’ll even admit that several of my dates have come from people browsing through Facebook, starting a conversation, and us hitting it off.

From the outside it seems creepy, superficial and downright odd. But for millions of people, online is the new Friday night hang-out spot.

I have never been one to join an online dating site. For me, the popular options seem to be Grindr, Manhunt and the like. The name enough scares me away.

However, I have plenty of friends on these sites that say they’ve met some of the best people and remain friends with many of their first dates. I just wonder what happened to asking someone out in person?

If anything, I would respect someone who walked up to me and introduced themselves instead of “winking” at me online. Even more, I would hope that someone else would have respect for me if I did the same for them.

Online dating seems to have skewed our perception of appropriate dating etiquette. I have more friends tell me that they think it’s weird for a guy or girl to start a conversation with them while in line for food or at the store than it is for someone to add them on Facebook and start chatting there.

Are we all just completely against taking a stand and building the courage to walk up to someone, face-to-face, and flat out introduce ourselves to see if things could work out?

For college students, it can be different. Fraternities and sororities have mixers and gatherings. Different clubs regularly meet and many people eat together around campus every day. In those places, bonds can be made, and it is less awkward to go up to someone you see all the time and talk to them.

However, once you move off campus, start to work, or even get tired of the campus dating scene, where do you go?

Society says online.

I wish we would keep it organic. I think we have crossed a line that we can’t cross over again. If well over a third of relationships are starting online (and that number is quickly growing), the chances of people meeting face-to-face are diminishing.

What’s a guy or girl to do?

Time to get the camera out, clean off the mirror, strike a pose and hope for the best. We’re back to Myspace pics, folks. The man or woman of your dreams is waiting just behind URL number one.

Michael Graves is a first year religious studies and communications studies double major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].