After staying up late at night and mindlessly scrolling through the reality tv shows on Netflix, you decide to binge the most popular drama on the global top 10: “Love Is Blind.” The series is depicted as a fun-filled show highlighting the positives of relationships based solely on communication. Strangers are separated by their gender and go through and date as many people as possible. While continuing conversation, they narrow down their options until they choose one person they want to spend a 28-day vacation with to test their marriage compatibility and to test if their love is actually “blind.” Though while watching, the concept of love being blind can be misconstrued due to the unrealistic environmental circumstances.
Love is Blind is watched by many viewers because of its light-hearted beginnings and complex relationships that come from their communication pods where the couple’s dates take place. Though, are these secluded pods really the place to find honest love? Are they even a place to actually discover a person’s real personality?
This simulated experience of meeting a new person doesn’t reflect reality. The pods provide a comfortable sofa, games, and notebooks for every date, seeming to get their contestants ready to find their match. Yet in the real world, none of these things are given in preparation most of the time. Real-world dates usually consist of some sort of dinner, movie, or activity in public that allows people to get to know each other better, face-to-face.
In the pods, there’s only one-on-one interaction. Contestants are not able to tell how their date may potentially treat a waiter like they would if the pair were to meet at a nice restaurant, if they smile at cute dogs as they walk by, or if they thank those who hold the door open for them. The way someone treats others is crucial to how a person develops their feelings towards a potential partner. Seeing as not many people would enjoy being with someone who treats others unkindly.
A person in the pods is also able to make up any lie due to not having that crucial face-to-face interaction. On a public date, a person may not be able to lie as easily, due to their facial expressions and body language hinting at dishonesty. In the pods, none of these factors are distinguishable, only the tone of a person’s voice.
In the second most recent season of the show, when one of the male bachelors told each of the women what his occupation was, all of the answers were either ridiculous or just untrue. Although this was a joke on his part, what inclination did the women have to not believe him? There is no body language, such as a smile, to imply that this answer was a joke. The couples have to take each other’s word for the information they’re given and trust a complete stranger to tell them the truth. In the real world, most people gather background information from social media profiles and other public information to judge the other person’s credibility, but on the show, that can’t happen.
Additionally, to stay on the show, you have to end up with a fiancé. While trying to pick between two options, a few cast members chose the wrong person just to end up going back to their other option. Doesn’t this seem to be a back-up plan for those who just like to be part of the show? The action of going back to the second-choice person can be seen as a desperate grab for fame rather than the fixing of a mistake.
A majority of the couples on “Love is Blind” end up not working out for one reason or another, whether it is differences in their ideas or the lack of spark between them, which could be avoided easily without the reality tv aspect of the show. Couples should be able to see each other’s social interactions, understand each other’s humor, and find undeniably real connections.
Instead of taking the chance to find out if love is actually blind, the public dating scene could save you a world of heartbreak and find a love that is palpable and real.
