As we go through life, we all hope that we can find someone that we can spend our lives with. For the longest time, people relied on pickup lines over drinks, blind dates, and dating friends of a friend… In recent years, online dating has become wildly popular and more couples are falling in love, thanks to these dating websites. Even though as it may be, there are still misconceptions about online dating that prevent millions of people from actually taking it seriously. Sure, people may sign up on these sites just to see what it’s all about, but you’d be surprised by how many people don’t follow through.
Here are 4 popular misconceptions about online dating that prevent people from giving it a real shot.
- Online Dating Websites are for Losers
People tend to think that others resort to online dating because they are unattractive, have poor social skills, or more simply put, are losers. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, many people who join these websites are actually quite successful and their careers do not give them a lot of spare time to dedicate to finding a partner. Of course, one of the biggest draw of online dating is that you can, theoretically, meet thousands of people in one night, rather than just a few when you go out to the club.
- Everyone Online is a Liar
For some reason, people on the internet are viewed as liars and have some ulterior motive. This is one of the biggest reasons people do not trust online dating. How can they be sure the person they are talking to is who they say they are? Let me ask you this, how is it any different then meeting someone at the bar? You only know what they tell you.
- Online Relationships are Doomed for Failure
Many people have this strange notion that a relationship that begins online will only result in failure. While we can’t tell you that people who met online are in a long lasting relationship (the internet and online dating hasn’t been around for that long), but we can say that in study commissioned by eHarmony, one third of 19,131 American adults that were married between 2005 and 2012 started as an online relationship. That means approximately 6,313 couples liked each other enough to take the plunge and get married. Of the marriages that were surveyed, 5.96% of those online couples divorced, whereas 7.67% of the people who met offline got divorced. So, according to that particular study, online relationships are less likely to end in divorce. There’s something to think about!
- Online Dating is Impersonal and Formulaic
There is no denying that we do rely on the internet for a lot of things—banking, shopping, entertainment, and social networking. Some feel that the internet is making face-to-face interactions obsolete and online dating is the best example of that. In fact, it is easier for many people to open up and connect with others via writing messages and emails rather than approaching someone and trying to spark a conversation. With online dating, you have a profile that you can pull conversation starters from. In a way, this makes you less vulnerable and maybe even a bit braver.