Online Dating Pros & Cons

Pros & Cons of Online Dating

 Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalk stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m god’s lonely man.

I don’t remember where exactly I read this quote but it’s something that we can all relate to very well.

 So, hello people! I hope that you all are good and dealing with all the problems that are coming your way in different and unique ways.

As I was saying loneliness is a pervasive issue in today’s world, even if someone has a robust social circle or close family. Just like Corona Virus, loneliness has emerged as an invisible epidemic in our sped-up world. Do you remember the dementors from Harry Potter they had a tendency to suck out souls, similar is the case with loneliness?

However, as I mentioned above the unique ways that we use to solve the mysteries of our life and today I am going to talk about one such way. “Online dating” and it’s Pros & Cons

The famous opening line of Jane Austen’s novel pride and prejudice:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

The expressed sentiment illustrates that the characters in the book, like most people, are much occupied with finding a partner, to attain things like love, stability or security.

Evolution of Online Dating

Earlier people used to meet through their parents, relatives then the culture shifted to meeting through friends and after that people started finding their perfect half themselves like offices, colleges, meeting places, cafes and many more. However, with the growing trend of digital technology smart devices have transformed many aspects of our society including how people meet each other and establish relationships- romantic and otherwise.

Online Dating is becoming more and more popular. It provides users with the ideal place to meet people that have similar likes, dislikes and character traits to them.

People from all walks of life are moving to online dating to find partners. Different people have different reviews regarding online dating. Some people thought it is a good way to meet people and the majority thought it was a poor replacement for striking up relationships in the ‘real’ world.

Online Dating taboo in our society

In India too this trend has been increasing a lot. However, people here are not ready to talk about this openly. Strange! Isn’t it? One in five relationships start online. That means a huge number of us are using online dating sites to meet potential partners.

In an age where we share the details of our everyday lives with our friends and followers, why are some of us still embarrassed to admit that we’re looking for love? That we’re actually not that contentedly single? If you were to select five of my Facebook friends, I could probably tell you their sleeping patterns, their favorite restaurants, the details of their last break ups, and how they deal with hangovers. And yet, I wouldn’t be able to tell you if any of them used online dating sites.

 The pros & cons of Online Dating

We live in a society in which marriage and relationships are a matter of major concern. It is believed a partner selected by the elderly is way better than the ones whom we select for ourselves. I know you might be thinking that it’s you who knows better about your needs etc. but the elderly has seen this world more properly than us. This doesn’t mean that they will always be right but their choices tend to prove more successful than ours. Moreover, to them this trend of online dating is unknown.

Even we the users don’t like to talk about it openly. Thoughts like “Achha nahi Lagta”, “log kya kahenge”, “achhe ghar ke log aise Kaam nahi karte”, “reality mein kya Kami hai logo ki Jo aise online dhundhna pad raha hai ” hit us hard whenever we think of using it or talking about it. This is all because of the fact that we ourselves are not completely sure about it and the things we are not sure about we try not to talk about it.

Now coming to the pros and cons of online dating

PROS

• Online dating puts an endless supply of potential partners right in the palm of your hand.
• On these dating sites you tend to run into people with whom you wouldn’t necessarily run into on campus.
• For introvert people, the ones for whom talking to people in person isn’t easy, these places are a boon because saying “hey” through a screen tends to be less intimidating than doing so face-to-face.
• It’s also a great way to overcome shyness or anxiety about meeting people in person.
• People who are conscious of their body and has a fear of Body Shaming  can start with Online Dating
• Online Dating generally starts with Appreciation of each others if people find profile interesting.

CONS

• It’s a crowded digital space. While it’s great to have so many fish in the sea but this process can be really exhausting to find good in this long list.
• Users lie about their dating profiles. There are users who lie about their age, height, income and what not. Some of them don’t even show up on the date.
• No matter how logical you find the other person but you can’t fully evaluate a match without any physical interactions. Psychologists warn “computer-mediated communication may have an artificial and unemotional quality since it can be harder to evaluate a potential match online where you cannot pick up on cues and features that build attraction, like touching.”

My Experience on Online Dating

As for me, I personally tried these online dating apps but for me they were a major downer and as a result in just one month I was fully sure that these are not my cup of tea. 

 However, it’s not necessary your experience will be similar to mine. Just like dating in the real world, online dating can be tough and there will always be pros and cons to any dating scenario. But, if you’ve had a few bad setups or are getting tired of waiting around to meet the right person and the right time, online dating can be a convenient, easy way to increase your options and help you get back out there. Whatever you decide, good luck and happy dating!