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Do you hate being harassed by friends and family members about why you're still single?
Well, singletons, just in time to face those awkward interrogations this Thanksgiving, a company has launched a new service that will pose as your significant other.
Fakegirlfriend.co will send you text messages and phone calls from your imaginary date, according to Time magazine's NewsFeed.
The web site for the service carries the tagline, "Because you don't want to look lame" (as if faking a relationship isn't lame at all).
It explains how it works: Customers, who are "tired of being embarrassed" of being single, enter and save the company's phone number in their phone under the name of their supposed girlfriend. Then, when they're among friends, or anyone else they'd like to deceive, they send a text to Fakegirlfriend.co, and the service will respond with a "girlfriend-esque message."
Time points out, however, that the messages ironically reflect the kind of dating behaviour that often makes people wish they were single in the first place, such as "Why don't you leave the boys and come hang out with me?" and "Please come hang out with me? Please? I really miss you." So customers may quickly regret signing up for an imaginary relationship.
But then, the pressure to couple up can prompt some people to take drastic measures.
According to China Daily, for example, young Chinese men and women have been known to advertise on Internet forums for fake partners to bring home to their families during holidays.
"With increasing social pressures and busy work schedules, more and more people are finding it difficult to find a life partner. That's why some people devise ways (such as hiring a 'girlfriend') to ease the worries of their parents," sociology teacher Yang Liang explained to China Daily.
Have you ever been nagged about being single?
Wency Leung