Dating Tango

Online Dating – Good or Bad?

The pros and cons of online dating

Here are the pros and cons of online dating. First, let’s take a look at the pros.

Online dating serves as a formal, organized, anonymous and non-threatening introduction. It saves a lot of time getting to know each other as opposed to numerous face to face dates with a near stranger.

Online dating services offers the opportunity to reach out to people in another geographic area, if you are willing to relocate, planning a relocation, want to meet others willing to relocate to you, or just willing to do some traveling while in a long distance relationship. It might also be that your job takes you to other places regularly. Or, perhaps, you have two homes in different parts of the country or world. That is often the case with retirees.

Another of the pros of online dating is the fact that rejection is easier, both as the recipient and as the rejecter. There’s nothing worse than a goodbye in person. It’s painful for both parties, and can even be dangerous. Telling somebody that you are no longer interested in them as a potential mate is much easier online. You can’t see or hear the tears, and you aren’t subjected to their anger. Even were that person to try to e-mail you some angry response online dating services offer a blocking option.  

Another pro of online dating is the ability to determine compatibility through profiling, questions and answers via the Web and personality and compatibility assessments offered by the best of the online matchmaking services. You can take the getting to know you process one step at a time, generally can introduce your own set of questions into the process, and take your time with letting the potential partner know your email address and finally your phone number.

Women, especially women over 50, find that looking for a compatible mate in their hometown area is difficult. In general, there are many more women than men in the area and the competition is fierce. Not so online. One of the pros of online dating for women, especially for older women, is that men predominate. It is easier to find a compatible male on the Web than it is to find a compatible female.

The cons of online dating need not be stumbling blocks. There are online two, both of which can be overcome. The first con of online dating is that it can hide dishonesty and let folks appear what they are not. People can upload photos of themselves taken 10 or 20 years ago, they can even upload photos of other, more attractive people. You can spend a lot of time working on an online relationship with someone who, when you meet, is not at all what they said they were.

Asking good questions, noting the answers, asking them again in different ways, and taking your time before meeting are the best means of protecting yourself against deception. If deception happens – well, there’s deception in face to face dating as well. All you can do is ask the right questions and really listen for the answers.

The second con of online dating is that some people think it’s for really uncool people who can’t get a mate any other way. If you care about what these people think, it can be tough and embarrassing for you. But why care about the opinion of idiots? Chances are they’re single too. This time next year you’ll probably be in a committed loving relationship and they’ll still be alone and making unkind, uninformed comments about other people’s lives.