As Valentine’s Day draws near, couples all over the world aremaking romantic plans to spend the day with their loved ones. Forthose not romantically attached, this day brings feelings ofloneliness and reinforces somber moods. Well, if you’re single andare looking for a romantic partner, your chances of accomplishingthat goal just increased.

When the rabbis decided to help young Jews meet their potentialpartners (of the same religion), never did they conceive such anarrangement to permeate the rest of the world.

Dating services have adjusted to the new form of dating to meetthe needs and desires of today’s society. Speed-dating is the formand it is fast gaining popularity among the rest of the world.

Tracing its roots to the United States, speed-dating is rapidlybecoming the preferred and the most efficient method of meetingpeople. Here’s what it entails:

Singles attend meetings where potential dates might be. They areeach given a score card, a pen and are assigned a number. They arethen allowed three minutes with each date where they meet and takenotes about their dates. If they like the person, they place acheck mark next to the corresponding number and they then arrangeto meet the person again. If the feeling is mutual, the organizersopen up more fields of communication for the two to meet again.

Some argue this is just a foolish way to meet people, while somefind it absolutely beneficial to their needs. It is almostimpossible for some people to approach their desired partners or toeven make the first attempt at conversation. This kind of serviceis convenient for shy people because they don’t necessarily have tomake the first move and it seems safe compared to Internetdating.

Other speed-dating services have different arrangements fortheir singles to meet. In some services, men are given a key andwomen are given padlocks. According to Anushka Asthana of TheObserver, a UK-based daily newspaper, what you do is circle theroom, try out the keys and if it opens your lock, you take it tothe desk and you’re given a new one. If the pairing doesn’t workout, people simply walk away and go try different locks.

It turns out some of these services don’t work for some people.Some people don’t like the idea of giving power to one partner andnot the other. According to The Observer, one woman said sheloathed the idea of men carrying the key and holding the power, butoften, women actually approached the men with their locks held inthe air. This padlock and key type of service seems more like ameat market to me. It appears more like an act of desperation. Oris it a desperate move to resort to services like these?

In the beginning of the new millennium, Internet dating hadbecome the fastest growing service in the dating industry. Manystudents, who are otherwise shy, have taken to Internet dating tomeet their partners. Shy people found this dating serviceconvenient for them because they didn’t have to communicateface-to-face.

Internet dating was at first criticized for making its usersmore vulnerable to sick-minded people out there. Now, Internetdating is one of the top ways singles meet others.

Other dating services out there include dinner in the dark,where singles meet in a candle lit bar and are taken to a pitchdark dining room. The idea is to loosen inhibitions. Another is theQuiet Party, here the singles are given a pen and paper tocommunicate with people who catch their eyes. No talking is allowedhere. There’s also Dating Bingo. In this case people are given anumbered raffle ticket, and a prize is given to the first couple tofind matching numbers. This is said to be the most popular amongstudents.

Pretty soon, a speed-dating service named 8-Minute Dating willhit Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here, singles will have eight one-on-onedates that last eight minutes each.

Are pick-up lines a thing of the past? Is asking someone out ona date becoming a more challenging task or are we just an impatientsociety?