Confession: I’m an online dater. In fact, the Internet is responsible for my entire livelihood – I found my apartment on Craigslist, I’ve scored writing gigs based on online affiliations, and I’ve even made some friends (whom I now know ‘IRL’). I can’t say how large a portion of my social circle is comprised of people I met on the Internet, but it’s fairly large. I don’t think that’s all that rare, these days – if I didn’t meet a new friend online, it’s probable that the friend who introduced us did. It just seems kind of normal.
So normal, in fact, that there’s an entire site now dedicated to helping you find your ideal Wing-woman (or man). WingMENandWOMEN.com works to match you with friends in your area who have similar interests as you – whether that’s going out on a Wednesday night and making the kind of decisions that leave you with a hangover, an empty wallet, and a stray traffic cone you drunkenly picked up on the way home (if this is you, call me), or something less sinister like heading to the park with your kids (because all of your friends are childless).
A week ago, I might’ve thought, “Meh. I have enough friends. I’m at friend capacity.” But watching Bridesmaids last night woke me up to the fact that (a) I’m aging and (b) my friends could move away, get knocked up, get married, or any number of terrible things that could leave me alone and friendless. Scary times! Suddenly, a site dedicated to finding a friend doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
Would you sign up to wing?
