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What is Online Dating?
Courtesy of Realonlinedating.com
Imagine a world where fantasy mixes with reality;
a world where love, romance, and friendship can be transported right
into your home. Sound like a mere wish or daydream?
An Internet connection and a few clickety-clicks of your keyboard
and mouse are all it takes to enter this brand new cyber world.
One search can cause dozens or even hundreds of singles' profiles
to flash across your screen. Each respective single will parade
before you like a virtual line up of potential friends, mates, or
lovers. Best of all, you get to meet these singles while wearing
your grungy sweats and propping your feet up on your computer desk.
There's not even a need to primp with makeup or splash on cologne.
Welcome to the world of online dating! It's true that eyebrows
used to rise whenever some new couple announced that they met online.
Newspapers and magazines published in the early 90s were plastered
with articles about Internet meetings and sexual flings. Now
online dating is the cultural norm, a practical choice over the
traditional dating scene. And the outcome can be just as good
as (or even better than) traditional dating methods.
Marriages are regularly initiated over the Internet. You can
now meet and fall in love with someone before even looking into
their eyes or giving them a kiss! People routinely develop
online friendships with men and women who live halfway across the
world. Some of these friendships lead to committed and monogamous
relationships where one or both of the individuals relocate to another
city, state, or country. Talk about a leap away from the old
dating method! America's great-great grandparents courted
each other. They would sometimes sit in the parlor.
Their cheeks were red with blushes and their eyes darted upward
with quick flashes of eye contact. The girl's father would
stand nearby and scrutinize the young man. "What are your
intentions with my daughter?" he would bark at the nervous gentleman.
Now we can discuss our intentions via an online chat!
Instant message chats are certainly a common site feature.
Most dating sites are organized the same way. A free profile
is the initial offer. Interaction with other members requires
a paid subscription, which averages about $25 per month. Subscribers
usually have the ability to send instant messages and anonymous
e-mails, to conduct voice chats, or to send virtual flowers or virtual
winks. What makes this type of forum the most attractive to
most singles are thechoices. Online dating is about
making intelligent decisions. These decisions are broader
than those offered by traditional dating methods. Instead
of blowing thirty bucks on a stranger you'll never see again, you
can opt to pre-date possible matches. This gives you the chance
to develop a relationship online, to truly dig in, get to know each
other, and decide if sparks will fly before you even arrange a real
date. "Pick one, any one," is the initial psychological
impression when viewing the many online profiles. After all,
a visit to an online dating site is almost like visiting a store,
only the "merchandise" is a real live human being. Instead
of being limited to the handful of available local men or women,
online dating site users can potentially meet dozens or even hundreds
of quality singles. Anonymous e-mail services allow
singles to safely and effectively get to know each other before
any arrangements are made for a face-to-face meeting. This
gives cyber daters the ability to sort out the true prospects from
the losers in the comfort and privacy of their homes. It really
is no secret that the Internet is a practical choice for today's
generation. But this forum is not exclusive to the younger
generation. Men and women in their 50s, 60s, or even 80s or
90s are finding love and romance online. As one man quoted
on a dating site proclaimed, "If an old, ugly, bald man with one
leg can find love online, anyone can!" Physical attraction
has always mattered among lovers (and it still does), but more and
more online daters are first falling in love with each other's emotional
and mental characteristics.
This twist in modern dating is unlike any previous reality.
Compatibility was often discovered after a couple married or committed
to each other. Physical attraction was the primary pull while
developing their relationship. A few months or years of togetherness
revealed true character flaws. The physical attractiveness
unraveled. Sometimes an undesirable "stranger" was found lying
in bed next to them! A trip to the divorce attorney may have
been the only cure for this type of incompatible relationship.
Modern online daters have an obvious advantage. Personality
tests and other compatibility-geared methods can be used to instantly
weed out the majority of wrong matches. The daters are then
left with a short list of highly probable prospects. These
remaining prospects may have so much in common with the dater to
permanently seal a lifelong relationship.
Perhaps the divorce rate will begin to lower as these types of Internet
dating sites grow in popularity? Just a thought.
Online dating does allow singles to easily weed out the bad from
the good. It's a practical option for busy or professional
men and women who simply do not have time to meet other singles
through traditional methods. Online dating is
literally like entering another world, only this is the kind of
world that can forever change your life.
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