Does Online Dating Actually Work?
Latest surveys show that 30% of US adults have used a dating site or app. In reality, this percentage is much higher.
Nowadays, most young people around the world use the Internet to socialize and find romantic partners.
Online dating works: how to take the most out of it?
When you plunge head-on into the ocean of online dating, you inevitably take the risk of receiving a picture of one’s private parts or voice messages containing some not-so-pleasant physiological sounds.
The solution is simple: do not accept pictures or voice messages from everyone.
Online dating helps LGBT people find a partner more easily
Before the digital age, people with different sexual orientations had to overcome many difficulties to find a match and start a long-lasting relationship.
Now, more than half of the LGBT people in the US admit they have been on an online date at least once, and some 24% say they have found a long-term partner on the Internet.
How has online dating evolved since the 2000s?
Online daters have switched from desktop chat apps like ICQ and mIRC and platforms like AOL and Match.com to mobile apps like Tinder, Grinder, and Hinge.
At the turn of the 21st century, young Americans used to go online from home, meaning that most online socializing was taking place from static workstations.
The boom of Internet clubs
Internet clubs started mushrooming across Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, as few teenagers had personal computers at home.
Frequently, youngsters sitting at two adjacent PCs would start flirting on a chat server, unheedful of their proximity in the real world.
A sad truth
Internet clubs are still trendy among young people in the more underdeveloped regions of Africa and the Caribbean.
Unfortunately, youngsters use them to create fake profiles of attractive men or women and try to extract money from wealthy westerners, exploiting their loneliness.
An ocean of opportunities
All online dating sites and apps provide a free people search option. If you use several of them, the chances of starting a relationship are much bigger than hanging in the local bar or club every Friday or Saturday night. And youngsters in small towns or rural areas of the US or Australia know it.
Have we forgotten how real-life dating works?
While most online romance seekers are fascinated by how easily they can find soul mates, leading psychologists warn that more and more youngsters across the US and Europe feel pretty uneasy when communicating face to face.
Social networks and online dating sites impose specific appearance and behavioral stereotypes on young people. Consequently, those failing to fit in feel increasingly confused and frustrated.
Unwanted communication
From the paragraphs above, it becomes clear that online dating actually works. Problems may start when you realize it’s not working as expected.
Everyone knows that song about the hotel where you can check in any time you want, but you can never leave.
On the same note, some dating site and app users complain they’ve been haunted by a relationship they thought was over long ago.
Figure out what exactly you are looking for online
According to online dating experts, people who tend to become obsessive towards their online friends and potential dates try to find the love and affection they’ve been deprived of while growing up.
So, before one opens an account on a people-matching app or site, they should draw a list of realistic goals they’d like to achieve there.
How can online dating become toxic?
Having put a reasonable amount of time and creativity into creating a profile on a popular dating app, you probably expect that Prince Charming or Cinderella would come in the next month or two.
But weeks can become months, and you may become tired and irksome of waiting. The solution is not to spend every free minute on the site or app like a spider on its web. If you can’t break loose from it, online dating has become toxic for you.
Get a life
Success, both social and financial, is like a magnet to people. If you focus more on your career, studies, or private business, the results will come soon, and with them – popularity.
The number of your followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will start growing, and, who knows, maybe your future long-term partner will be among them.
I am not saying that you should close your dating site account. Just log in after you’ve checked all tasks on your to-do list for the day.
Learn from your mistakes
In online dating, as in life, people make mistakes. If you pin all your hopes on a potential online date, you may quickly get in the blues if things fail to work out as planned. It’s essential to learn your lesson and never look back in anger.
