By Gail Waterhouse
The representation of speed dating in movies like “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Hitch” may seem like a last resort for older people with glaring personality flaws. Yet the idea appears to be gaining popularity, and speed dating events seem to have been accepted by people here in Boston.
Founded in 1998 by Rabbi Yaacov Deyo in Los Angeles, many speed dating events take place at bars or restaurants where each participant receives a number and a scorecard and then proceeds to have a series of four-minute dates round-robin style. At the end of the evening, each person submits his or her choices online, and if there is mutual interest between two daters, each will get the other’s e-mail address to continue their conversations or set up another date.
Some events are aimed at a particular group of the dating scene, like college graduates or Jewish singles. On Sept. 17, HurryDate, a national speed-dating company, partnered with JDate, the largest online Jewish singles network, to host an event for Jewish singles ages 30 to 45 at Charley’s Eating and Drinking Saloon on Newbury Street.
“I found out about the event through JDate,” said Carol Levin, a resident of the Boston area who attended the event. “It’s really just another way to meet people.”
Christina Mirra, the host of the event, said speed dating is a dating option singles should look into.
“Lots of really cool people don’t meet people in the usual dating way, like going to a bar,” she said.
Speed dating isn’t just for the 30 and older crowd, either. DateandDash, a speed dating company based in Chicago, hosts events for college graduates and young professionals ages 22 to 34.
Although speed dating may still not seem like the preferred way to meet a partner, some say it is a niche that might be worth looking into, even just for a night of entertainment or a story to tell the next day.
Megan Schreck, a 24-year-old living in the South End, said she thought speed dating was a good solution for people with busy schedules.
“When you have no time, it’s a good way to be forced to meet a lot of people at once,” she said.
She also said she thought speed dating had an advantage over online dating. “Sometimes you meet people online and talk for weeks but when you meet, there’s no connection. With [speed dating], you meet people right away and can tell if you click,” Schreck said.
Steve Nakamoto, author of “Men Are Like Fish: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Catching a Man,” said he agrees that speed dating is a good way to meet others.
“Speed dating is a way to meet 30 people, to shake hands and say hello and see if there’s a spark between you and someone else,” he said.
Julie Albright, a relationship expert who specializes in how technology affects dating and a professor at the University of Southern California, said she isn’t sure it can.
“You can open the door to a relationship, and find the initial factors that lead to a deeper level, but speed dating just doesn’t provide the space to get to that deeper level in the first encounter,” she said.
Albright said speed dating is a fun, safe way to meet people, but is probably not the best place to find someone to enter into a serious relationship with.
“The people that involve themselves in speed dating may just want to date for fun, but that person may not be the partner that you’re going to be with long term,” Albright said.
Some Northeastern students also seemed opposed to the idea of finding a potential mate in just four minutes.
Freshman undecided major Noreen Leahy said she she likes to stick to more mainstream ways of dating.
“I’m a bit too traditional for [speed dating],” she said.
Junior civil and environmental engineering major Eric Sheets said he wouldn’t consider going to a speed dating event just yet.
“Maybe if I [was] 35 and still single, but not now, no,” he said.
