If you are considering trying your hand at dating online, you might appreciate finding out a little more about the pros and cons of the whole deal, as well as what to expect from most dating websites.
First of all, you should know right up front that dating online is not just a flash in the pan or a passing fad that will be here today and gone tomorrow.
People have been dating online for years now and the trend is increasing instead of decreasing, so one might reasonably expect it to be around from now on. As a matter of fact, back in 2010 a BBC poll found that approximately one-third of the people in the world use the internet for dating.
The Pros of Dating Online
What makes dating online so popular with so much of the world’s population?
There are a number of factors that contribute to the popularity of dating online. Here are a few:dating-online-good-and-bad
- Time—Many people lead hectic, fast paced lives that don’t leave much room for socialising and meeting potential romantic partners.
- Prudence—With dating online, you can learn a lot about someone before sticking your neck out and actually meeting him or her. Plus, you can set your preferences on most dating websites to weed out the unsuitables and eliminate them from your search.
- Safety—With so many predators around, it simply isn’t safe to go to a singles bar—or anywhere else—and pick up a stranger. With dating online, you can check a person out pretty thoroughly before arranging a meeting in a safe, public place.
- Choice—Let’s face it, you can find a lot more dating material online than you can scrounge up at your local grocery store or park or wherever singles might go to try and engage with other singles. Dating websites are veritable smorgasbords of singles! According to Hitwise, there are currently more than 800 dating websites around the globe.
The Cons of Dating Online
As with everything else in life, it isn’t 100% roses with dating online. There are some drawbacks that it would pay you to learn about.
Here are the main things on the down side of dating websites and dating online:
- Expense—While many dating websites are free of charge, some come with pricey membership fees that can get expensive over time.
- Choice—Yes, this can be a con as well as a pro as shown above. Sometimes having such a bewildering array of choices can be a bad thing. For example, studies have shown that people who chose a candy sample from six different kinds of chocolate were better satisfied with their choice than those who had 30 options. Psychologists say that browsing through scads of profiles on dating websites can lead to being cognitively overwhelmed.
- Chemistry—Sometimes what we think we want in a love interest isn’t the thing that arouses chemistry or revs up pheromones for attraction. Many people have reported meeting people on dating websites who were an almost perfect match on paper, but failed to ignite any sexual sparks in person.
Still, when all is said and done, dating online has been the source of many people hooking up for a good time or even marriage and a permanent relationship….people who would have otherwise never met if not for dating websites; so the good outweighs the bad and you can look at photos to rule out ugly!
