The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

New online dating book: informative, funny

By Kate Augusto

Whether you’re single and looking for companionship or attached and looking for a good read, author Virginia Vitzthum’s new book, “I Love You, Let’s Meet: Adventures in Online Dating,” provides informative entertainment about what Vitzthum calls “the greatest technological advance in the history of human mating.”

Vitzthum, a journalist and former sex columnist, writes that online dating can make users “move from a months-long drought to five dates next week … [people can] search around the world at any time of the day or night in a smelly bath robe.”

“I Love You, Let’s Meet,” is part of a generation of self-help books that work because they’re funny.

This is a how-to book for people who want to explore this semi-new world. Through anecdotes and her own experiences, Vitzthum breaks down the process and analyzes the pros and cons of online dating.

For daters looking to express themselves better, Vitzthum has the answer.

“Everyone gets to be a love poet, a comedian, a digital self-portraitist,” Vitzthum writes.

Even if online daters exaggerate their qualities, the process of creating a profile lets daters reflect on what they want and who they want to be, but Vitzthum warns however, for daters to beware of online liars.

Vitzthum takes readers through a world where certain lies are generally acceptable, like knocking five pounds off the weight question. But then there are people like Trevor, one of the daters Vitzthum interviewed, who uses a variety of photographs of other people to send to potential dates.

In Vitzthum’s description of the online dating world, users can get whatever they want, whether it is sex, friendship, dating or a serious relationship.

According to Vitzthum, some online dating sites are known for particular interests, like Craigslist.org, where the reader learns, “

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