Timber Parody (Pitbull Ke$ha) by Brian O'Sullivan

The theme of this week’s material is Online Dating and Mating. In today’s world, virtually every aspect of life is made a little easier with the use of technology. This extends to the dating world as well. Meeting people can be difficult in several ways. Some people just don’t have the time to go out and find partners, some people maybe feel too shy to do it, as well as other factors. Whatever the reason, people are turning to online dating. This week’s parody video lists several (but not nearly all) popular dating sites along with the up’s and down’s of online dating.

There are many options of dating sites on the internet. Some use chemistry quizzes to find a person’s “perfect match” and others have a specific target group that attract users who desire a partner with a certain interest. Some examples of these in the video are Christian Mingle and Farmers Only, although there are many more out there. My aunt and uncle recently got divorced and my dad has been helping him get back in the game, including signing him up for dating websites. My uncle got really excited when my dad found him a dating website for dog lovers because for him, a doggy daddy of three, finding someone that shares his love of dogs is very important.

The video also references some of the downfalls of online dating. Although a benefit of online dating is knowing what you’re getting yourself into before you meet, which is similar to the “filtering” process discussed in the article, Online Dating and Mating by Danielle Couch and Pranee Liamputtong, where online daters are able to sort through their options to find people that match their type, online dating can also do the opposite. It’s very easy for a person to misrepresent themselves online, either on purpose by using fake pictures or information on their profiles, or unintentionally as people tend to present themselves in the best light they can. Brian O’Sullivan expresses this issue when he sings “ask her out to dinner by now but when we meet she looks like a cow.” Seconds later he brings it up again, saying “get catfished well I just might go and join a brand new site.” A catfish, in terms of the online world, is a person that lures someone into a relationship “by means of a fictional online persona.” This term became popularized by the MTV show Catfish, in which two men, Max and Nev, investigate relationships that started online and bring the two love interests together to find out if everyone is who they say they are.