Times have changed over the years and so has the world of dating. Dating has entered into the electronic realm, evolving into an online option that allows people to find their match online.

Recently, the Washington Post reported that 40 million people in the United States have tried online dating before. Unlike the past, men and women now have the option to search for their soul mate on the Internet.

Websites such as Match.com and eHarmony have kick started the online dating revolution. A new website by the name of DateMySchool has surfaced that targets college undergraduate and graduate students.

Columbia University students Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer started the dating website in November of 2011. In the early stages, the website was only offered to twenty select schools. Shortly after being launched, the site took off and experienced more and more users. Consequently, the site was forced to expand and CNN has reported that the website now has more than 20,000 registered users.

Although the creation of this website has proved to help a significant amount of students, hesitations have aroused about the idea of online dating. The first issue about online dating is the idea on the surface: It is truly astonishing that people have become busy enough to the point that they now have to rely on the Internet to find another individual to pursue. Love and relationships are what fuel our environment and people need to work finding a significant other into their daily routine.

After talks with DePaul students, opinions varied but some undergraduates had concerns about the world of online dating.

“I personally would probably never use an online dating site,” said Kohl Neal, a sophomore. “To me, I think I would have to experience a divorce before I would even think about an online dating site.”

College in general is meant for diverse people to interact with each other in hopes of finding another interesting individual to spend your time with. The creation of an online dating service directly targeted at college students takes away a lot of the real life interactions that college intended to create in the first place. Instead of going out to parties and school events to meet people, students would regress to surfing the web on these dating websites in search of a companion.

“I think an online dating service at a college or university is kind of pointless,” said Neal. “A college environment is designed to allow people to interact. I mean we already have Facebook.”

Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter already offer students a route to meet other students at school. In their construction, these sites were originally designed for college students and young adults. Introducing a new website extremely similar to the likes of Facebook only presents another reason for students to waste their time stumbling through the web.

Although times have evolved, students and young adults alike need to boycott the online dating world and transcend back to the roots of dating. A date that was constructed purely on confidence and guts alone holds a much greater reward than hiding behind a computer screen to meet new people.

“Save online dating for the older individuals who need it, not enthusiastic college students,” said Neal.