Despite its popularity, online dating continues to get a bad rap. Why is it that more people are joining dating websites, but many still find they don’t get the desired results?
Well lucky for us, a new study came out that tells us even more about how bad it is on the InterWebs. OnlineSchools has revealed that:
- 1 out of 10 online dating users are scammers
- 1 out of 3 women who meet men online have sex after the first encounter, and 4 out of 5 did not use protection. Really ladies? It’s 2010. No more excuses.
- Men tend to lie about age, height, and income while women lie about weight, physical build, and age
- Oh, and the average age of the online dater is 42. NOT 22. Which is kind of depressing, considering what this report is saying.
Any of us who have online dated can tell you it gets frustrating. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a profile and craft a good email, let alone line up dates to see if there’s chemistry. We know the drill: People don’t look like their pictures or they lied about their weight/ height; any number of things can make us feel cheated. But there’s something else at work, too. More often than not, there’s just no chemistry. No connection. Or the guy you were attracted to moves on to someone else before your second date. Or the woman just never responds, with no explanation. When we experience these kinds of dates repeatedly, it makes us doubt online dating as a whole.
The reality is, before online dating we relied on networks of friends and families, which meant that we didn’t have 10 dates in a week unless we were trolling the bars each night. Online dating has allowed us so much choice about who we can date, it’s almost counter-productive. Even when we meet someone great, we’ll check our account to see if anyone new has sent us an email or winked at us. It becomes a game of grass is greener, especially in large cities like L.A.
As hard and frustrating as it can be, and as much as people can be dishonest on these sites, online dating has moved the dating scene forward in many ways. It has put more choice in our hands. In response to all of the things we fear or grow weary of while we’re online dating, I wanted to remind you of the positive things:
- You can date anytime you want, not just because you approached a stranger at Starbucks or Aunt Dorothy set you up
- You can pre-screen before you meet people in person
- You can filter when you search for love
- After a break-up, it’s an instant boost to the ego to get winks and emails
- You can meet someone who lives far away and still strike up a relationship
- You can look at/ scrutinize single guys and girls from the comfort of your couch at home. Great for introverts!
Online dating is far from perfect. But I’m still glad it exists.
About Kelly Seal
Kelly is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, CA. She blogs about dating, relationships, personal growth and what "healthy living" means to her. You can follow her on Google+, Twitter @kellyseal or through her website www.kellyseal.com.
Indeed!
“Even when we meet someone great, we’ll check our account to see if anyone new has sent us an email or winked at us. It becomes a game of grass is greener.”
I can’t count the number of times I’ve come back from a fabulous first or second date and trolled through my Match.com viewers. That said, those dates haven’t turned into long relationships either. Only once did I seriously stop looking at everyone who passed by my profile; when I was convinced, after one of the best first dates I’ve ever had, that I was going to be with THIS guy. I actually emailed all my prospective “interests” and told them (after the second date the next day) that I was no longer on the market. After the second date. Yes, I was smitten, but so was he. When a couple of weeks later, it came to a sad halt upon discovering some fairly large obstacles, we sadly parted ways and I went back onto my profile a week later.
So, I think it is possible to find someone who will make you stop looking, but that person may still not be the right person for you. In any case, keep looking! I should have! 🙂
I’m enjoying it much more since I started using Weopia with it. I was on a virtual date with one guy and could tell in minutes I was into him. But a few other guys, well, we were getting along ok but it was a bunch of little things like him driving over my avatar repeatedly even after I asked him to stop and another guy kind of abandoning me that are like red flags and make me glad I didn’t waste my time meeting them in person.
I do believe all of the ideas you have offered in your post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for newbies. Could you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.