Silver Netizens Now More Active on Online Dating Sites in the U.S.

Dennis Barton (62), a retiree, and Marge Roberts (57), a science writer, have been going out for about a year. Both of their marriages ended in divorce 25 years ago, and both have stayed single since then. They feel that they finally found each other as “soul mates.” Roberts looks forward to dinner every Tuesday with Barton.

The couple lives in Cincinnati, but they were not first introduced to each other by a relative or a neighbor. Barton saw Roberts’ profile on Yahoo! Personals and sent her an e-mail. That is why Roberts refers to Barton as a “Yahoo! boy.”

According to the August 31 issue of USA Today, an increasing number of those in their 50s are “online dating” just like Barton and Roberts. The paper quoted an expert and added that it is rapidly growing among the 50-plus online dating market and making inroads into the 60s.

In January, 4.8 million, or 18.5 percent, of the 26 million American visitors to online dating sites were 55 years old and older.

For Date.com, membership registration aged 65 and older soared 78.5 percent in a year since January 2004. In January, Match.com was visited by 704,000, all of whom were 55 or older, an increase of 98,000 over the past year.

The paper cited more divorces and others for the reason of a larger number of older singles. Many of them want to look for dates, and the first thing they do is go online. They are familiar with computer and the Internet. It is no longer a silly idea for older singles to log on to dating websites.

Alan Coleman (55), a single retired teacher, said, “Older people have more wisdom and better judgment. We are better-suited for online dating.”

Jin Lee leej@donga.com