As someone who’s poked around on dating apps and heard a bunch of success stories from friends who’ve tried them out, I know online dating can be successful. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people out there who are skeptical about it, either because they think they’ll only meet creeps or because they find it “strange.” However, online dating can actually open a whole world of new opportunities – and people! – for you, and it often takes a lot of the hard work out of trying to meet someone in “real life.” So if you’ve been thinking of taking the plunge but aren’t sure if you should, here are 5 things you may have never considered about online dating – that you should definitely think about:
1. You can meet someone now
No, literally, you can meet someone in the next five minutes, or in the next hour, or in the next day. You don’t necessarily have to wait for the weekend for that one big party where there’s only a chance of there being interested, single people. There are so many potential people right at your fingertips that if you want to meet someone now, you just have to download an app.
2. It makes the process of finding the ‘right’ person easier
Not only do you have immediate access to a variety of people, but you also have the ability to filter them right away – something you just can’t do in real life. You can have assurance that the person you’re meeting is from the same city, so long-distance doesn’t become an issue. You can view their age, so if that’s something that’s important to you, you’ll be able to take it into consideration. Depending on the app, you can see if you have any mutual friends, which could help if you want to do a little poking around beforehand. And then there are the usual things, like interests, profession, etc, which is useful information to have depending on how important it is to you.
3. It cuts the guessing game
One of the most annoying things is meeting someone you like, but then being unsure as to whether they’re single – or, even if they are, whether they’re actually looking for a relationship. There’s a high possibility for rejection, which sometimes makes it difficult for you to approach someone and let them know you’re interested. But online dating takes much of the guessing game out: you know the chances are high that the person you’re speaking to is single and looking to meet someone. Yes, it can be hit-and-miss – but, for the most part, it makes it easier to “approach” someone. That cuts half the work – and fear of rejection! – so now the only thing you have to concentrate on is whether you two click.
4. It takes you beyond your immediate friend zone
Do you feel like you’re only meeting the same sort of people again and again? The greatest thing about online dating is that you can go beyond your friends and friends-of-friends and actually connect with the people you may have never otherwise met in real life. It takes a lot of the work and disappointment out of the process of trying to meet new people, and the results can often be great – you’ll know what that’s like when you make a connection with someone (romantic or not) that you know you would have probably never run into in-person!
5. There’s no obligation
Say someone sets you up on a date, or that guy you ran into at the bar asks to take you out the next day – it all sounds great, but what happens if you know within the first 10 minutes of this date that it isn’t working out for you? Since you’re already out, you feel somewhat obligated to get through the rest of it. With online dating, there is usually a decent amount of conversation prior to any in-person meeting, so you can decide whether this is someone you want to pursue or not. Of course, it doesn’t mean that everyone you do like over the phone or chat will be someone you like in person, but it still gives you the ability to filter people and reduce the likelihood of boring or disastrous dates.
Have you tried online dating? What have your experiences been like?