Too bad they didn't ask the Klan member vs. Muslim question.
Generally, one's parents conclude that the guy must be a loser, a criminal, or (this is the weird one) only into you for sex.
Why would one's parents not want their daughter to be getting some of the good nasty?
Most of those surveyed say they don't use the Internet to look into the backgrounds of co-workers or potential dates. Only 5.9% say they'd searched online for information about a co-worker, and a mere 5% admitted to investigating a potential mate.
These people are either liars, or not at all "tech savvy" as the poll claims.
Generally, one's parents conclude that the guy must be a loser, a criminal, or (this is the weird one) only into you for sex.
Anyone care to try for a clean sweep?
It's such a shame that Ogged and I aren't meant for each other because this leads me to believe that taking home an Iranian I met on the internet would have been blogging gold.
I have actually never googled anyone I was going to date until afterwards. Some of those people might just be lazy and/or unimaginative.
7: I'd be willing to pay for a plane ticket for Ogged to go home with Becks next holiday.
Yeah, but my husband isn't. Plus there's always hooking.
In other words, I would literally prostitute myself for a joke. Let's see any of you "funny" people do the same.
13: I've been laughed at in bed. Does that count?
My mother google's any gf's whose last names she knows. She then can't remember their names, only the kind of stuff she found, like the chemist being "that one that used another alphabet" in honor of her academic papers.
I wonder what parents would think if their son brought home an internet lass vs. a biker bar chick vs. a trek-ette?
Oh, nobody cares about that, because boys are the ones who do the choosing.
This is an interesting point:
For example, among the 18- to 24-year-old-set, only 35.6% consider someone posting a picture of them in a swimsuit an invasion of privacy, compared with 65.6% of the older respondents.
Obviously, my Flickr stream is full of pictures of my friends and me in swimsuits at the moment, and I admit I had a moment of wondering whether I should post them or not. Clearly, I decided to go ahead. How many, I wonder, of the over-25'ers here think I did wrong?
I'm over 25, and I would hesitate, trending "no."
Parents didn't like biker chick. Parents thought trek-ette was a slut who only wanted me for sex. (I was heartbroken when it turns out they were right! ). She didn't have ears or wear the uniform, but she did read a lot of sci-fi.
As for the survey - parents assume that their daughter will be able to resist Trekkie guy's advances ("Phaser's on No means No or I'm going to kick your Vulcan ass") and that maybe he'll straighten out and become a dentist. Isn't there a dentist whose whole office is a star trek set? Or a nuclear physicist.
I think it depends. Posting pictures of yourself and friends at the beach? Not. Posting pictures of someone you don't know, or don't know very well, particularly in a "check out the hottie" way? Yes.
I suspect the answer hinges on the phrase "a picture of them." And that the response depended more on how the speaker imagined that happening than on the swimsuit issue per se.
9: He could even be a Trekkie she met online who was using the wifi at the local bar...
20: E.g., I'm well over 25, and the only situation in which I imagine myself in a suit these days mostly involves being with my nuclear family--and my husband doesn't post pics online. So I'd be surprised if such pictures were out there. If I tended to go to the beach with my friends frequently, I wouldn't.
I met the Biophysicist online. He's a biker with a PhD who reads sf and likes a good, cask-strength scotch. And my mother likes him.
But if she's twenty years old, she's in the bar illegally. Her parents would prefer her to drink underage than to meet a nice young man on MySpace?
Or a trekkie, yet. Yeesh.
23: Well, Mr. B.'s arguably a Trekkie of sorts, and definitely likes getting me drunk. My folks like him. OTOH, I met the boyfriend online in a sex chat room, and the parents don't know about him.
He doesn't know anything about Star Trek, though, so there's that.
20: That makes sense, obviously. Pictures of you posted by someone you know are way less creepy than pictures posted by someone you don't know.
But if she's twenty years old, she's in the bar illegally.
Or in Canada, which would obviously mean the boy was above reproach.
A Canadian! That's worse than a Trekkie, surely.
If you like pot-smoking nice guys, sure.
29: assuming the canadian in question is, in fact, william shatner.
A Canadian! That's worse than a Trekkie, surely.
There's that reaction, too. Note to world: Canadians have no need to use Americans for green cards. Their country is nicer to live in.
Given my track record, my parents would probably be thrilled if I brought home a Canadian. Or a trekkie.
33: If you like snow and farms, sure.
How are your parents with your Iranian dude, JM? (If you don't mind me asking....)
They don't really know him. My mother met him once, briefly, and of course he has impeccable manners so it went fine. She did ask whether she should be concerned that he was so slender, to which the answer was "no." One of my sister's best friends from college is Iranian, and they really like her, so I don't think there's going to be a bigotry problem. My guy's family is insane; that might be more of a thing.
My guy's family is insane
I could have guessed that.
I should maybe stop joking about crazy Iranian families. I've heard enough about everyone else's family here to think that mine is actually pretty normal.
See, I thought mine was comparatively normal, but then this weekend my honey met one of my cousins and listened in as we gossiped about the extended family. Verdict: we're all crazy.
He's just positioning himself to have some leverage later, when you talk about his family.
One of the few things our families have in common is a suspicion of outsiders and a fierce protectiveness of insiders. I'm sure that nothing could go wrong.
I think I know where parents are coming from on this. They don't know how to make distinctions about "someone you met online." When I was 15 or so, I thought it was pretty fun to meet random guys in chatrooms and have cybersex with them. They'd try to get my phone number and home address, and I'd refuse, of course, as I had gotten what I wanted. At some point, I developed a rather hot and heavy ongoing chat relationship with a boy just slightly older than me, and was printing out the transcripts for some stupid reason. I was caught, unfortunately, when my mom found all these silly promises from the boy that he wanted to marry me, etc. My folks were horrified.
For that reason, I find it hard to admit that I have relationships with people online, or that I've met guys through Nerve. I know what my parents think of online relationships--they're sure it's all what it was to me when I was 15, and they'd never let me hear the end of it. So I lie and say I met the guy through mutual friends, or that I'm going out with school chums when I'm out with you. It's not that I'm ashamed, but because parents don't understand that some things online are more creepy than others.
My daughter is 20. She met her current boyfriend through internet friends, and undoubtedly had online interaction with him before human interaction. It'd be pretty silly to hold this against him.
CharleyCarp, the obvious reply to this is that you, yourself, are online. You might be less inclined to think that all people online are weirdos.
My niece just married an Internet date, and no one seemed fazed by it at all.
AWB, jailbait. I never thought of it that way before.
AWB, If you tell me what you're wearing right now, I'll tell you what I'm wearing.
My mom was quite relieved when I told her that I met my "internet friends" through blogs, rather than chat rooms (which I think she only knows about from all those news stories ten years ago about all the terrible things that can result from meeting people in chat rooms).
45: Alternatively, CC is online at unfogged and still isn't worried about the people their daughter dates from online. This is borderline pathological.
If you like pot-smoking nice guys
What's not to like?