Should You Google Your Date Prior to Going out With Them

Thanks to Google, we have the ability to learn the answer to any question we may have – no matter how abstract and off the wall it may be. Because of this, we also have the ability to find information on anyone we meet, including that person that asked us out on a date this weekend.

The problem many people have with this ability is if they should take advantage of it. They grapple with the idea that they could learn too much about their potential date and that it could ruin everything. It’s understandable that you want to learn as much about the other person as you can. You have to remember that no matter what juicy tidbits you learn about them, you have to try to prevent yourself from judging them too harshly until you meet. Unless that person is a criminal, you never know what they are really like.

Many people prefer to go the social media route instead of Googling. Why use the popular search engine to see someone’s list of achievements in college or the biggest catch on that fishing trip. No, people want to see the real side of their potential suitor. So, they feel inclined to search for them on Facebook, and if their profile isn’t set to private, they proceed to Facebook stalk them. They look through pictures, old posts, comments made by others, and stuff like that. But one thing they never do is “friend” them! Friending someone on Facebook prior to the date is the quickest way to ensure things won’t go any further.

Now, don’t get me wrong, you can get some good ideas of you can talk about when you Google or Facebook stalk your potential date. You can learn about their interests, their hobbies, and other interesting things, but there is a fine line of learning stuff for conversational purposes and learning too much information. No one wants to learn that their date turns into an alcoholic on the weekends or they have a passion for comic books.

One of the biggest problem with people who look up their dates on social media, they are prone to compare themselves to people who are associated with the person. For example, if you are browsing through their pictures and you see someone leave a comment and then you start looking into that person trying to figure out the context of their friendship, if they have had a sexual history, and stuff like that. Perhaps technology just increases the paranoia in some people.

Another problem with looking up information about your date is you change the chemistry that may be there. How? Think about it. You’ve found someone you want to really hit it off with so you look up information about them. You then adopt their hobbies, their political views, and other things in an effort to seem more compatible with them. While it is an extreme thing to do, people have been known to go to those great lengths just so that they can connect with the other person.

Google and other social media avenues are great ways to learn about people, but it can put a damper on everything. Perhaps it is best to let things happen naturally and learn about your date as things come up.