The Pros and Cons of Online Dating

Online dating can be nice. When you are talking to someone online, you can be a little bit more open about who you are. People who are usually shy have the chance to talk without as much worry as to what the responses will be, and those with a quiet voice won’t find themselves trying to talk above others. In a way, connecting to somebody over the internet is more private. You can send them an email, an instant message, or a PM on any of the popular social networking sites that will only ever be read by them, and not worry about what your friends (or enemies) have to say about your choice of words.

Another good thing about online dating is the ability of both parties to think before they send. Talking out loud is risky. It’s really easy to say the wrong thing unintentionally. But when you are typing something, you have the ability to read it over and correct any mistakes long before the other person reads it. This also allows a person to show only the best parts of themselves first. For a person who has a hot temper, they will be able to hide that fact for a long time, making it much more likely that the person they are talking to will come to like them before finding out, which would be almost impossible in a face to face setting.

Of course, that can also be a problem. The ability to hide one’s bad qualities is really only good for that person, not the other person. Many people can end up falling in love with someone that turns out to be almost nothing like the person they have been talking to. What happens is that each person is falling in love with an idealized version of the person they are talking to, which is just fine until they meet and learn that prince charming… well, isn’t.

And then, of course there is the issue of safety. Many teenage girls like to look online for boyfriends. But what happens when they go to meet their 17 year old boyfriend for the first time, and find out that he’s actually thirty? Most likely what does end up happening isn’t pretty. And it can work the other way too. The 25 year old girl a thirty year old is so eager to meet ends up being a fifteen year old that’s just looking for a good time, and neither party is really aware what they are getting themselves into.