Why Online Dating Isn’t Scary (Or Anything To Be Ashamed Of)

The world seems to be pushing relationships on to young people, and not everyone feels comfortable going out to a bar to meet people, they would much rather stay indoors at home. Although many men and women are now using online dating, there still seems to be a negative connotation surrounding it. But is it really so bad or embarrassing anymore?

Online dating is great for the guy or the girl who is too nervous to go and put themselves out there to publicly speak face-to-face with another person. It allows these individuals to message one another and build a comfort zone before they choose to meet up in person.

For college students, online dating is a fantastic thing to look into. Let’s face it: It seems that nine out of 10 guys in college are only looking for sex. At least with dating online, it is easier to understand what the person is truly looking for. If he or she really wants a relationship, they will try hard and continue talking to you. If they are only looking for that “one thing,” chances are they will say it right away.

The benefits of online dating usually outweigh the bad, but of course there are certain circumstances when it can be a bad thing too. When shows like MTV’s Catfish are created, people believe that all situations they see on there will also happen to them. It is false that to say that every single person on the other side of the messages is a “fake” person or someone different from who they say they are; you just need to be weary of some people who throw up red flags.

Now, that isn’t to say that the real people on there aren’t a little weird. There are people on these sites that don’t even offer a greeting, but rather get right into it by asking for sexual favors or other explicit things.

This still shouldn’t be something to turn girls and guys off of these sites. If something like this happens to occur, ignoring the message is the best thing to do. If you give into the message, it’ll just get worse.

Another plus of online dating is that in comes in two forms: free and purchasable. Although there are probably accusations that the free ones are nothing special, there are still real individuals on there looking for true relationships. The only difference is these sites are not advertised on television.

Now, online dating is not for everyone; some people still want to have that face-to-face interaction for first impressions. Online dating is all about personal preference, and some people choose to start a profile, learn it’s not for them and deactivate it. The free site, OkCupid, allows users to pause his or her profile or delete it all together if they think they found someone.

Online dating is a huge confidence booster, and it allows people to step out of his or her comfort zone and make an attempt to start something new. These experiences are important at the start of a relationship because it is something you can laugh about and build on that in the future.

If you start a relationship happy, chances are it will continue down that path. It might be obvious, but I encourage anyone to try it out, and attempt the life of online dating.

Even if it is just a silly little profile on a free site, it is worth a try. You put in your interests, answer a few questions, and the site begins to show matches based on your input. I took a chance and went for it, and the outcome was phenomenal. There will never be a day where I don’t recommend at least trying it out, even if it is just for a week.