Editorial: Time to meet in reality

How people portray themselves online isn't always what they turn out to be like in reality. Photo / Thinkstock

In a world where people are increasingly busy and technology is taking over, it seems logical that people meet online.

The more you talk to couples about how they met, the less you hear about going to the disco on a Friday night, and meeting through work or friends. It is now about meeting online.

Couples have been connecting online for years, through chatrooms and online games. You name it, if people can talk to one another, they have been developing relationships.

It seems online dating has been through a cycle of being taboo, acceptable - and now dangerous.

It was once seen as an odd thing to do, but as more and more success stories came from online dating, the more acceptable it became.

I admit, I was a cynic. I doubted how people could connect or get to know each other properly after meeting online.

I have been proved wrong and friends of mine, who have found love, have showed me the deep dark chat rooms on the internet are not just full of perverts and weirdos.

However, as time changes, so does the technology used and now connecting with people seems easier than ever.

New mobile phone-based apps, such as Tinder, mean people can pick and choose who they want to connect with.

Tinder is a dating app that connects with users' Facebook profiles to provide pictures and ages for other users to view.

However, how people portray themselves isn't always what they turn out to be like in reality.

The dating site already had a bad reputation but now police are warning women about the dangers of the app after Kiwi women were raped by men met through the site.

Australian police say a 28-year-old New Zealand woman in Sydney on a business trip was sexually assaulted by a group of men after she connected to one through Tinder.

Police in Auckland are investigating two separate cases of women being raped after meeting men through the same app.

I hope people take these warnings seriously. There is something to be said about good old-fashioned courting, and getting to know someone in person.

Maybe it is time to put the cellphones down and meet people in real life.