What are the pros and cons of internet dating? Is there romance to be found?
There are amazing statistical facts about online dating. People trying an online service is close to being equal to the number of single people we have here in the United States. Online dating services like eHarmony have about four hundred questions in their survey. Match.com is the busiest dating service followed by eHarmony. Match.com profiles you based on the type of person you are drawn to while eHarmony tries to match you to a specific type of person based on common interest (Statistic Brain Research Institute, 2016). People using an online dating service states they want to find someone with the same common interest first followed by physical features. Seventeen percent of marriages last year happened out of meeting that person online. Ten percent of sex offenders are using online dating services. The number of males using an online dating service is slightly higher than females. (You might think it would be the other way around.) Also, more seniors are using an online dating service looking for companionship. One in five marriages are a result of online dating (Fact Sheet 37,2016).
There are pros and cons to online dating. Knowing what you are looking for can help save some of the headaches about using this kind of service. Psychologist Finkel and associates came up with an analysis of online dating, the pros and cons. I am going to start with the pros. Online dating can give you more potential partners that are available to you. This can be helpful if you are looking for a particular type of a person. Also, personality testing helps with compatibility so you don’t have to waste your time on someone who has no common interest. The internet can be a safe and convenient place to interact without having too much risk and time invested as long as you don’t give out too much information and spend hours looking for the perfect person (Nicholson, 2014).Online dating can be easier for people who are dating later in life to look for someone without waiting to meet that person through a friend or family member. In some cultures where arrange marriages take place, an online dating service can help the family pick potential mates based on their cultural beliefs (Fact Sheet 37,2016).
The cons to online dating are as follows. You can spend hours looking for the perfect person and have no real plan on what or who you are looking for. You should come up with a plan before hand to make your life easier and online dating less frustrating. Matching a person to your specific requirements is not an exact science so you might not get the chance to look at one who might be a good fit for you. Another good example of a con is that you don’t get that face to face interaction that you would normally get on the first date. An example could be an attraction to a smile, a wink, etc. (Fact Sheet 37,2016). The internet can lack the emotions that you would feel if you had that face to face meet. Facial expressions can tell us if they like us or not. The internet cannot. Online dating websites sometimes can be dangerous in that giving out too much information can be used by third parties without your knowledge. This could lead to scam artist trying to use your information for their financial gain. Also, online marketers will try to use this information to sell you product (Banayat, 2014.) You also need to aware that what you put out there can potential be used against you. Court systems do not need to rule in your favor if there is a lawsuit (Fact Sheet 37,2016). You knew what you were doing when you uploaded your information. Also, once you stop using that dating service, there are no guarantees that you information will not still be used by that company. A con to online dating that can happen, is when a person lies in their profile which makes one not wanting to use that service again. You also, need to be aware that some of these online dating services can be misleading in that they can make you think that there is a perfect person out there for you. There is no such thing. Life is a gamble but you got to be willing to try as long as you use common sense and your gut feeling.
Online dating has it pro and cons as long as you realize that the initial meet online should be followed up with a meeting of that person face to face. Online dating can alleviate a lot of stress of hoping to meet someone but remember to keep the playing field down to a limit number of choices and to your common interest and location so that you don’t spend too much time searching instead of dating. Make sure you use a secure website for online dating and having a separate email might be a good idea to keep you private information safe. If the website seems to be fishy then do not use it. Don’t put too much information up on that website because it could potential come back to harm you.
I think that online dating takes out the romance that you would get with the first date if you are to meet face to face. Online line dating can be a real risk in that you don’t know that person or your family and friends don’t. You can end up being sexually abused because you didn’t have the family trust who wouldn’t set you up with someone like that in the first place. Once you meet that person face to face or a date that the family set up for you, let someone know where you are going and have an escape plan ready if things go badly. The most important thing is to use your instincts and don’t let someone talk you out of what you know won’t be in your best interest.
Banayat, Tine. Modern Love Online: Weighing Up the Pros and Cons on Online Dating, the First Step towards Finding Love in the Digital Age. LeoNe 11 October 2014. Book 11 October 2014
“ Fact Sheet 37: The Perils and Pitfalls of Online Dating: How to Protect Yourself”. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. 2015. Web 12 April 2016
Nicholson M.S.W, PhD, Jeremy. ‘Pros and Cons of Online Dating, When and how to date online”. Psychology Today 30 April 2014. Web 12 April 2016
“ Online Dating Statistics”. Statistic Brain Research Institute. 2016. Web 12 April 2016