We have witnessed technology wipe out the cassette tape, the VCR player, the home telephone and now, possibly, the need for a real girlfriend.
FakeGirlfriend.com, a website dedicated to helping single men seem not-so-single, is a new phenomenon in the ever-growing online world of smoke and mirrors.
The process for gaining a fake girlfriend is simple. The website tells you to save their number in your phone as your “girlfriend’s” name.
Then you text the number when you’re out with friends or with family who nags you about finding a nice girl and then, according to MSNBC’s Digital Life, a needy text like “Why don’t you leave the boys and come hang out with me?” finds its way to your inbox.
You’d think that this couldn’t possibly work for long, right? Well, of course they don’t send you a real girlfriend but there’s also a website called Cloud Girlfriend that allows you to make her a Facebook page.
You don’t even have to worry about who she’s messaging or who that guy from work she added is. She’ll even post nice, girlfriend-ish questions and sweet things on your wall. How romantic.
Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way but it sounds entirely too creepy to be real. Why use a fake girlfriend to achieve approval from friends and family? Is the pressure for guys to settle down growing?
Possibly, but the fake girlfriend may attract other women. According The Huffington Post, a 2009 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology showed “only single women were more interested in pursuing an attached (man) rather than a single (man).” So maybe these guys are on to something.
Countless single guys in movies use wedding rings to attract women, maybe out of pity or as the study indicated, “mate poaching,” has landed a desperate man some attention but not for long.
If a man pretends to be in a relationship in order to gain a relationship, there’s going to come a time for explanation.
Use of a fake girlfriend can make your life easier for the moment but think about whether you’d have your friends and family view you as single or as a liar.
The film “Lars and the Real Girl” tells the odd story of a detached man, Lars, who falls in love with Bianca, a life-size doll. The 2007 indie flick makes Lars seem to be out of touch with reality, but charming in his naivety and awkwardness.
It might work for Ryan Gosling but the life-size doll thing is probably a deal breaker for most women.
It’s not as blatantly loopy but having a fake girlfriend text you and post on your Facebook wall is weird.
Having a girlfriend isn’t everything. Don’t stress about where you’ll find the perfect girl because she’s out there, just not in your inbox.
Reach the columnist at tafergu1@asu.edu
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