# What's the appeal of phone dating?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-appeal-of-phone-dating/589958>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 22, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-appeal-of-phone-dating/589958 "2011-07-22T07:38:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-appeal-of-phone-dating/589958/1 "2011-07-22T07:38:56Z")

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I’m up late a lot and so see a lot of these types of commercials - phone dating. In the case of the gay ones, I imagine they are thinly veiled hook-up services. But in the case of the hetero ones (like lavalife), I can imagine it being at least partially for actual dating. But I have to wonder, what’s the point?

1. OK granted, maybe some of the people just want to have phone sex. But why not just call a phone sex line then? Is it ridiculously cheaper? Is the sense of verite a big turn on?

2. For those meeting up, do you just not give a crap what the person looks like? I would think this would attract a very large portion of unattractive people who think if you bother to go all the way to their place, you’ll still have sex / go through with the date even if they turn out to be distinctly unlike their audio profile description?