Take one look around San Francisco these days and you’ll see that things aren’t so hot: The economy is in the crapper. People are getting laid off left and right. Oh, and did I mention that our fine state is running out of dough?
But, really, who wants to hear about all that doom and gloom? Apparently, not single people, because despite the deafening buzz of bad news out there, one industry seems to be booming. Yes, I’m talking about online dating.

This past November was the strongest month for Match.com new memberships in more than seven years, according to the Online Dating Newsletter. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported in a January 10 article that both Craigslist personals postings and eHarmony.com registrations saw 20 percent increases last year. Despite losing their paychecks and struggling to pay their rent, it seems that the unattached just can’t get enough of writing pithy self-descriptions, taking countless personality quizzes, and browsing profile after profile for their soul mate.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I’m skeptical when it comes to online dating. Personally, I’d rather meet people out and about (what could help us all forget about the recession more quickly than a few cocktails? Anyone up for Laiola’s Pink Slip Sunday in a couple of days?). In any case, I started to wonder why this phenomenon is taking place.

Luckily for me, the so-called “experts” offer up all sorts of reasons. Take this gem of a quote from Dr. Pepper Schwartz, chief relationship expert (whatever that means) for Perfectmatch.com, from the aforementioned Online Dating Newsletter: "We are all generally better as a team and appreciate someone who shares our values, goals, and lifestyle, and that's why we've seen increased traffic to top dating sites in the current economic climate."

Meanwhile, eHarmony research scientist Gian Gonzaga told the Los Angeles Times, “When people are feeling stressed about the economy and feeling stressed about their love lives, they’re more likely to want to be in a relationship than when they’re not feeling stressed.”

My take on the situation is a little more, well, simplistic. It goes a little something like this:

Successful singleton has job. Job disappears. Without the burden of actual work to do, singleton can spend more time on the computer looking at, ahem, attractive prospects and fantasizing about future partnerships.

Or, to take a romantic view, maybe the prospect of happiness being just a few clicks away is something we’re all willing to invest in these days—but you’re more likely to find me turning off my computer screen and heading to a bar, thank you very much.

The Dating Lame is penned by a single, thirty-something lifestyle writer based in San Francisco. Although she holds no formal degrees that qualify her to be a relationship expert, she has been on a multitude of good dates, bad dates, and everything in between. Read more of her musings at www.thedatinglame.com.