I have some thoughts about Online Dating.
I have used sites like Okcupid, Plenty of Fish, and a few others over the past 6 years since my marriage ended. I would like to summarize my personal observations:
Negatives:
- Many of the users aren’t honest – a few are, but many aren’t. Frankly we all have past concerns that we want to hide from others, but without these potential partners to be vetted by friends or family, they might be con men/women.
- Men lie about their height and physical activity levels. Women lie about their age, current appearance, and physical activity levels.
- We all change. That’s the norm and it’s normal. Just be yourself.
- There are serious dangers for users of these sites. I have had hackers get into my profile and they have put my profile back into circulation even though I haven’t been on there since 2016 and I deleted my account. Who knows if they have changed my information and answers to get more people to use their sites. Some of the information is not correct and I cannot get it removed without logging into the site…and there is no telling if they will just reissue it later after I “delete” my profile. Another reason why not to use this platform for accessing dating potentials.
- Predators love online dating sites – they can be anything you want them to be, they may build you up and they may create fictiuous profiles so that you will be drawn in and then possibly attacked and harmed.
Positives
- Many people have met more people than they would have in their normal life without changing hobbies or taking up other ways to meet others.
- I have heard of some successful marriages from online dating, my extended family members are also included in that statistic.
- People love to ”shop” for the ideal mate, forgetting that relationships take time and energy and a desire for self improvement (ok that was a positive with a negative twist).
Please let me know other ideas on this… just take care. Have a backup person who knows where you are and don’t leave your purse, food or drinks unattended until you have developed a solid system of trust within yourself about the other person.
Stay safe.