10 reasons why you should consider online dating

Finding love takes time. Sometimes it feels like meeting the right person is a waiting game. You need to arm yourselves with patience and try alternative ways to meet new people. If you’ve already been on blind dates that your friends set you up, went to clubs or single bars, but you haven’t met Mr. or Mrs. Right, you should consider trying an online dating service. There are considerable advantages that online dating could bring you. Let’s go through some of the most obvious good parts of online dating.

1. First, the number of people you can meet online is incredible. There are over 40 million people that use online dating sites. How many people have you met in your entire life? Not even close to this number I’m sure. The chances of meeting someone online are way better than meeting them on the local scene. \

2. Niche dating sites. Today’s dating sites offer you the possibility of choosing a certain category of dating, depending on your country, religion, or interests. You have dating for Christians or for Muslims, dating for single parents, senior dating, Irish dating, Asian dating, Eastern European dating. There is something for everyone.

3. Dating online is very convenient, and a lot less time consuming than the classic way of finding a date. You need only a computer and you can start searching for a date, from the privacy of your own home.

4. Online dating is a lot less expensive than other ways of meeting people. You just pay a fee of about 1 $ per day, and you can try your luck with as many people you want. You don’t have to spend money on dinner, flowers and chocolate. You just turn on your webcam and start the date.

5. Anonymity. You don’t have worry about nosy co-workers or friends meddling in your business, or about persistent admirers that harass you. All your conversations are private. You can use an alias, and give your real name only to people that you choose.

6. The functions that online dating offer, make choosing a suitable partner a lot easier. You can send a wink to the ones you like, you can webchat with them, or you can block or report the people that are abusive.

7. The feeling of being part of a community. All the best dating sites have a chat or a forum where you can connect with other people, and make new friends. A new feature dating sites have is the Event Board, where you can plan and organize events for you and your new friends.

8. The online dating scene is safe. There is always the option to Report abuse or contact the administrator of the site if things go wrong, or start a topic on the chat page and discuss problems with other members.

9. When using an online dating service, you can take your time getting to know someone before actually meeting. We all have had the experience of a date gone wrong, when you don’t know what excuses to come up with, just to get out of it. You don’t have to worry about that anymore. You can exchange letters, chat or use a web cam to get to know the person you are interested in. After a few conversations you might discover that person in not for you.

10. Finally, the reason that got me to use online dating sites is that they have no geographical barriers. You can meet people from different cultures and backgrounds, from any part of the world. You never know in what corner of the world you can find your “other half”.

How safe is Online Dating ?

I get asked that question a lot. I have used online dating services for a while, and never worried about my security. I mean, what’s the difference between meeting someone in the park while walking your dog, and meeting them online?

In fact its probably a lot safer to use a dating site as you will have time to exchange messages / phone/ chat with in the chat rooms with the other person over a couple of weeks or longer before you decide to meet them, if there’s something you don’t like about the person you can move onto the next profile. Can you say the same about meeting someone in a bar ? You may have only spoken to the person (who may or may not be drunk) for ten or 15 minutes before organising a date.

Why should I be worried about using the internet in finding a date, when there are so many dangers in real life? To be honest, I feel a lot safer chatting with someone on a dating site, than meeting them for the first time in a restaurant. Here are some of the things I did to protect myself when using dating sites. Better to be safe than sorry…

Use a dating site with credibility. Use your common sense when choosing it. If it seems like it was put together by a guy in a basement, don’t think twice : Move on! It may be tempting to use a free online dating site, right? Not for me. Been there, done that. There are way too many dubious people out there. Using a paid service gives me a sense of security simply because people pay with credit cards, so it’s easy for the dating site to track down any trouble makers. Also people who use free dating sites have nothing to lose, so you’ll find a lot of people joking around on it. Whereas on paid dating site, you know they are serious as they’ve already paid a monthly fee to find that someone special.

It may sound a little paranoid, but I always google the name of the person I met online. Most people use the same username so by doing a search you may find what that person is into.

Make sure the person you’re talking to is the one in the photos. Better yet, use a web cam. People tend to use their best photos on their profile, so you can be deceived by it. Some go even further and use pictures taken years ago. Others use only head shots. Ask for a photo where you can distinctly see their entire body. I also prefer to videochat, AnotherFriend.com have a anonymous video chat system for their members

Who uses dating websites ?

If you think that dating sites are only for people who are unable to find someone in real life, you don’t know what you could be missing out on. There is this misconception that people who are successful, good looking and charming, will most definitely find a date in real life. So that leaves the unsuccessful, unattractive and boring people to look for love on the internet? Wrong. I had friends telling me : “Why can’t you look for love like normal people do?” Well, here’s why. Let’s start with the reasons someone might consider using a dating website, as opposed to trying to find a date in real life.

First of all, lack of time. Many people with good, demanding jobs, work long hours. They start work at 9 and finish at 6. They have errands to run, groceries to buy, things to do around the house, family to meet. When are they supposed to look for Mr. or Ms. Right? Here’s where a dating website comes in handy. You create an attractive profile, submit your photos, and select your preferences. From now on, the dating site will send you profiles of people that might interest you, and do most of the work for you. This way you can get acquainted with hundreds if not thousands of interesting new people.

Fear of rejection is another reason that people will chose to meet someone online. Imagine you are in a club, or a bar, and you see a beautiful girl. You can flirt from a distance, but at one point you will have to go up to her and say “Hello”. Here’s when it gets tricky. You don’t know what her reaction will be. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself or be humiliated in front of people you know. On a dating site, you don’t have this concern. You can browse through the profiles that the dating site suggested, or you can search for yourself. Again, you find a beautiful girl. You can send her a wink, and see if she’s interested, send her a message, or contact her in chat. Worst case scenario, she doesn’t answer. That’s not so bad. Your reputation isn’t damaged, you are not embarrassed, and best of all, no one knows about it.

On a dating website, you have the chance to meet people from different cities or even other countries. If you live in a small city, you have most probably been on the dating scene, and know what it has to offer. On a dating site, you can look for people in your area, or anywhere else.

In my experience, the “normal” way of finding a date, has given me limited possibilities to finding someone interesting. There comes a point when going to bars or clubs to find love, gets old. Online dating gives you countless new ways to meet someone. There are thousands of single people using dating sites, looking for the same things as you. One of them, might be just the one for you.