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Senior Citizens Now Using Online Dating Services to Find Romance

by Amar Toor on January 18, 2011 at 08:30 AM

elderly woman on computerFirst, your grandma got an e-mail account. Then, she joined Facebook. And now, she may even be using the Web to find romance.

For proof, look no further than SeniorPeopleMeet.com, an online dating forum devoted exclusively to helping the elderly hook up. The service, which describes itself as 'The Senior People Network,' reportedly attracts 1,000 new members every day, thanks in large part to shifting demographic and cultural trends.

According to Nielsen, 17.5 million people over the age of 55 described themselves as regular Internet users in 2009 -- up from 11.3 million in 2004. And, as seniors have become better acquainted with the Web, they've become more open to the idea of online romance, as well. "The norms are changing for seniors meeting online," Oakland University professor Terri Orbuch told Reuters. "Now technology is becoming more central to our lives [and] it is becoming more acceptable."

That's not to say that seniors use dating sites in the same way as their children or grandchildren. Because seniors are more likely to have had significant relationships before, they tend to know exactly what they're looking for in a partner, and they're usually more interested in commiting than playing around. "For the over-50s, attitudes, values and stability are much more important than for 20-somethings," Orbuch said. We would certainly hope so.

Tags: dating, old, OldPeople, OnlineDating, relationships, seniorpeoplemeet, seniors, SocialNetworking, top, Web

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