Angela Philipps, Contributor

Have you ever met a guy, but not known anything about him? Does this drive your curiosity about him at all? Do you wish that there were some way of checking the man out in a discreet manner?

Why not look the bloke up on the Internet? I don't mean for business purposes, but for personal ones. You know, type his name into a search engine and see what appears on your screen. Of course, I don't mean to insinuate that guys shouldn't do the same with women, but I'm writing this article from my own experiences.

I have been using the Internet for more than 10 years, but for the first couple I only utilised it to read emails. Eventually, I realised how handy the web can be, but I wasn't exactly 'addicted' to its accessible information for some time

A couple years later, I was visiting a friend in the United States and I spotted this very cute fellow who was playing pool at the table next to mine. He approached me, much to my amazement as he was HOT, and we got to talking about sports. This might be a turn off for some women, but not in my case at all. He took my number and said he'd call me the next day. Yeah, right!! I totally didn't expect to ever hear from, or see, him again. Well he did phone me and asked if we could get together at his office the following evening so that we could go for a drink.

That night I was telling my friend about my upcoming date, and she suggested that we 'Google' him. "What's that?" I asked her. She explained to me that we type his name and place of work into the Google website and click 'enter' .....so we did. There he was. This started my obsession with doing background checks on men who I met randomly. I know this might sound creepy, but it was mere curiosity which drove me to do this, and after a 10-minute session of 'research' I'd get bored and end up doing something else.

Getting the dirt

The kind of information I collected included things like where they went to school, if they'd played national or international sports, written any worthy articles or papers, or participated in notable charity projects. It was all a bit of fun, really, and I'd get especially excited if a nice photograph was found! Oh yes, and if they had a 'track' record (not the running type!) I'd head off in the opposite direction!

Anyway, it turns out that I am not alone in my quest to know what I am getting into, so to speak, on the romance front. Ladies in Jamaica might not participate in the 'Google craze' but our counterparts in foreign most certainly do. Do you realise that thousands of suggested websites can come up in one search?

I must say that when you stop and think about it all, it's pretty scary to think that so much information about many of us is available for everyone in this world to see. However, I've never come across the private matters of one's life. Not to say that this would be impossible, but I have no interest in such things unless a person chooses to reveal them to me. The benefit for me is similar to the first time someone you fancy contacts you, or hearing that this person has asked after you. It's that little connection. And you don't actually communicate with the said subject, it's somehow comforting.

So, ladies, next time you make an acquaintance who piques your interest, why not Google the guy?

angelaphilippsja@hotmail.com