Can Google doom a date? Of course you're eager to ask the Internet about a new guy, and it's usually a smart move. But there's one time when you must resist the temptation.(Love & Lust)

Try to imagine life before Google. How on earth did anyone find a pesto recipe at a moment's notice? Or check movie times? Or do homework on a prospective date?

Yes, these days, it's virtually impossible to resist running an Internet search on a dude. If you met him online or he asked you out meter chatting you up at a bar, it's only smart to hop online and make sure he's not a Scott Peterson clone. But there's one circumstance when Googling will harm your chances of a potential relationship: when someone you know is vouching for the guy. If he's a friend of a friend, you 'already know he isn't a psycho killer. So you'll really be Googling him to dig into his past. Not a good idea.

"Googling feeds your curiosity and gives you a sense of control over the nerve-racking early stages of dating," says Belisa Vranich, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in New York. Yet if you have a personal connection to him, it does more harm than good. This is how it can backfire.

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You'll Have to Fake It

If you read up on a guy, "your conversation will be inauthentic since you're pretending to learn things you already know," says Diana Kirschner, PhD, author of Love in 90 Days'. You'll need to keep track of what he tells you versus what you've unearthed online. Plus, you'll be forced to feign surprise ("Oh, that's where you went to school?") when he reveals something you'd found out earlier. "It's like you're reading from cue cards," Vranich says. And his BS detector will go off.

You'll Make Wrong Assumptions