“I stay away from online dating. Interacting with the person right in front of you is a much easier way to talk.”

Marcus Mariota, Athlete

Advantages & Disadvantages of Online Dating

advantages and disadvantages of online dating

Online dating has become quite popular over the past decade.

Instead of dating in person in an old school manner, people often rely on dating sites or apps to find a new partner.

While there are many advantages to online dating, there are still some issues related to it and many people would actually be better off by dating in person.

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In this article, the pros and cons of online dating are discussed in detail.

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Advantages of Online Dating

  1. Online dating is quite convenient
  2. Huge variety of potential partners
  3. You don’t have to dress up for online dating
  4. Dating online may take away some of your insecurities
  5. You may be more relaxed in your own home
  6. You can do online dating from almost everywhere
  7. Fear of rejection may be lower
  8. May be especially suitable for shy people
  9. Online dating can save you plenty of time
  10. You can date more partners at the same time
  11. Online dating can be interesting
  12. May give people hope who are not successful with traditional dating
  13. Online dating can help you in case you have special preferences
  14. Online dating has become socially accepted

Online dating is quite convenient

One important benefit of online dating is that it is simply quite convenient.

Online dating gives you the opportunity to meet many different partners without ever having to see them in person.

This also means that you can just date people while you go by train to work or while you sit on your couch.

You also don’t have any time commitment and can choose to use your dating apps or online dating profiles whenever you find time for it.

Hence, online dating can also give you a much greater level of flexibility in your daily life.

Huge variety of potential partners

Online dating also gives you access to a huge variety of potential partners.

In fact, millions of people use those dating sites and it would be impossible to get to know many of them in person.

Thus, online dating can also help you to increase the number of potential mates since you will simply get more matches compared to old school dating where you have to spend plenty of time on a single person.

Online dating can be especially beneficial for people living in remote rural areas since those people often only have rather limited access to potential partners.

In those cases, dating apps can be quite helpful since they enable those people to connect with potential mates who may live hundreds of miles away and therefore, the overall number of available partners will increase significantly as well.

You don’t have to dress up for online dating

Another advantage of online dating is that you don’t have to dress up for it.

In fact, since you will mainly write on your phone or on your computer, you will not have to show up in person for the first time and can communicate solely through using your electronic devices.

This also implies that your potential partner will not see how you look and you don’t have to spend any time to improve your looks due to that.

This can be quite convenient, especially if you work in a demanding job for quite long hours and don’t have too much time to dress up for your first dates.

Dating online may take away some of your insecurities

Many people are also quite insecure when it comes to dating.

This can be due to negative past experiences or to various other factors.

Most people feel far more comfortable sitting in front of their computer for dating compared to getting out and having to talk to people in person.

Hence, if you are only of those people who feels more secure with online dating, you may want to use this to your advantage.

You may be more relaxed in your own home

In general, online dating gives you a much more relaxed dating opportunity compared to dating people in person.

You can stay in your own four walls and don’t even have to leave your house for online dating.

Many people feel much more comfortable by staying in their own homes compared to going out since they are used to their environment at home.

In turn, those people may also be more confident in online dating and confidence is key when it comes to success in the dating market.

You can do online dating from almost everywhere

Another crucial upside of online dating is that you can do it from almost everywhere you want as long as you have a working internet connection.

In fact, it doesn’t matter if you lie on your couch after work or if you currently are on vacation.

As long as you have internet access, you will be able to use those dating sites or apps and can engage in the dating market.

In general, online dating gives you the opportunity to date location-independent, which can be a great advantage and can give you access to local dating markets everywhere in the world.

Fear of rejection may be lower

Many people also lose their fear of rejection when it comes to online dating.

In fact, it is much easier to create an online profile compared to walking up to a person and ask this person out.

Many people don’t want to ask other people out since they are afraid of potential rejection.

Thus, if you are one of those people who simply don’t feel comfortable in the old school dating market and don’t want to ask potential partners out in person, online dating may be the way to go for you.

May be especially suitable for shy people

Especially if you are a rather shy and introverted person who doesn’t like to speak to strangers, online dating may also greatly help you out.

In fact, with online dating, you can write with many potential mates at the same time and you can build a connection before actually meeting those people in person in the real world.

Consequently, when you finally meet those people, they may no longer feel like strangers and you may be more comfortable talking to them.

Online dating can save you plenty of time

Another benefit of dating online is that it can also be quite time-efficient.

In fact, since you have access to many different people, you can evaluate by their looks and their characteristics whether the respective person is interesting for you or not.

If the person is not interesting for you, you can simply refrain to spend any time on this person and can use your time for other more promising candidates.

Hence, online dating can save you plenty of time that you would otherwise waste on candidates who simply don’t meet your criteria for a long-term relationship.

You can date more partners at the same time

In general, online dating gives you the opportunity to date multiple partners at the same time.

This not only increases the chance to find a suitable mate, it also enables you to use your time in the most efficient manner.

Moreover, you can also avoid developing a so-called scarcity mindset.

In fact, many people who date in an old school manner are rather unsuccessful due to a rather limited selection of potential partners.

However, through online dating, the number of potential mates will be much higher and since you can choose between many different partners, you can lose your scarcity mentality and develop an abundance mindset which allows you to become much more confident since you know that in case one partner rejects you, there will be many more out there for you.

Online dating can be interesting

Many people are also rather fed up with the conventional dating market and want to try something new.

In fact, dating people online can also help to make dating more interesting since it will be a rather new experience for you in case you have never dated online before.

Therefore, if you want to experience a new type of dating, online dating can also help you out in this regard.

May give people hope who are not successful with traditional dating

Online dating is especially attractive to people who had no success with traditional dating in the past.

In fact, many people all over the world are quite frustrated with their dating experiences and urgently search for suitable alternatives to traditional old school dating.

Thus, online dating can also give people hope who had been rather unsuccessful in traditional dating in the past.

Online dating can help you in case you have special preferences

Some people also have rather exotic preferences when it comes to the dating market.

In fact, for those people, it is rather hard to find a partner through old school dating since those people will often be afraid to show what they are truly looking for since they are often embarrassed or also fear the rejection and the reaction of other people to their preferences.

However, through online dating, you can state in your profile what you are really looking for and you may find other like-minded people who have the same exotic preferences as you.

Online dating has become socially accepted

While online dating has been considered to be dodgy just a few decades ago, it is now socially accepted and many millions of people engage in the online dating market on a regular basis.

Hence, if you use online dating, you also don’t have to fear becoming socially isolated anymore since a significant fraction of our society also uses those dating sites and apps.

Disadvantages of Dating Online

  1. Online dating may attract the wrong types of partners
  2. People often don’t look like on their pictures
  3. Online dating is rather shallow
  4. You will not make the same level of connection like by old school dating
  5. You can’t see the reaction of the other person
  6. Success in online dating greatly depends on looks
  7. Online dating can be costly
  8. Online dating can be frustrating
  9. Fake profiles are a problem of online dating
  10. Many people will not have serious intentions
  11. People may insult you
  12. You don’t know what intention the person really has
  13. Many people give up online dating after a while
  14. People will lie regarding their dating profiles
  15. Privacy concerns related to online dating
  16. Should not be your only way of dating
  17. Matching algorithms are often flawed

Online dating may attract the wrong types of partners

Aside from the many advantages of online dating, there are also some issues related to this form of dating.

In fact, one problem of online dating is that it might attract the wrong types of partners into your life.

For example, if you try to look quite good on your online profile and state that you have a lot of money, you will likely attract people who just want to have your money and don’t care about you as a person.

Consequently, if you don’t want to attract the wrong types of people into your life, be quite careful regarding what information you want to publish on your online dating profiles.

People often don’t look like on their pictures

Another downside of online dating is that people often don’t look like in their pictures when you finally meet them in person.

In fact, many people use filters on their pictures to make them look much better than they really do.

In turn, you may be quite happy with the profile pictures of a person, but you may be rather disappointed when you finally meet those people in real life.

Online dating is rather shallow

Online dating can be considered as one of the rawest forms of dating.

What I mean is that in online dating, it is all about looks and money.

In fact, since people will not be able to get to know you as a person first, they will base their decision on whether you are a suitable partner for them or not solely on your financial capabilities and your looks.

Hence, if you really want to meet people who care about you instead of just your money or your looks, you may want to go for old school dating rather than for online dating instead.

You will not make the same level of connection like by old school dating

In fact, if you date people online, it is hard to form a similar connection like you would do when you dated in an old school manner in person.

When you meet someone in person, you can much better evaluate whether this person might be suitable for a partnership or not while through online dating, this will not be possible on the same level.

You can’t see the reaction of the other person

Another issue with dating people online is that you will also not be able to see the reaction of the other person to what you are writing.

In fact, for successful dating, it is quite important to see the mimic of another person since you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

However, if you just sit in front of a computer and don’t see the other person, you will not have the chance to see the facial reaction of this person, which could greatly decrease your overall level of success on the dating market.

Success in online dating greatly depends on looks

You will also have problems being successful in the online dating market in case you simply don’t look good.

In fact, success in online dating greatly depends on your looks since people are not able to get to know you as a person for the first time.

In turn, if you don’t have the looks to attract potential partners, online dating may just not work out for you.

Online dating can be costly

While there are free online dating sites out there, those free sites are often rather dodgy and many people don’t trust them.

Hence, if you want to join a trustful online dating community, you will have to pay plenty of money over time.

In fact, some of those exclusive online dating memberships can cost hundreds of dollars each month and you should make sure that online dating is worth it to you to pay those significant amounts of money for it.

Online dating can be frustrating

Many people also get quite frustrated with online dating.

In fact, especially people who don’t have success with dating in real life just use online dating since they hope to have better chances on those platforms.

However, in many cases, online dating will not deliver any success and those people may lose their last hope to find a suitable partner.

In fact, if you are not able to attract potential partners into your life through conventional dating, it will be rather unlikely that dating apps will improve your chances too much.

In such a case, you should rather work to become a better version of yourself in order to become more attractive in the dating market place in general.

Fake profiles are a problem of online dating

Online dating platforms are also quite vulnerable to fake profiles.

In fact, those platforms are rather untransparent and you may often be contacted by a bot rather than by a real member who is truly interested in you.

Consequently, you may also have to waste part of your time by dealing with fake profiles that will not have any value to you at all.

Many people will not have serious intentions

Online dating is also frequented by many people who simply don’t have any serious intentions of finding a long-term relationship.

In fact, many people using dating apps just want to have some fun instead of finding their soulmate.

Hence, if you use those online dating apps, don’t expect to find your partner for life.

People may insult you

Another disadvantage of dating online is that people may also insult you and try to bring you down.

In fact, people may not like your pictures and may negatively comment on them.

This is especially due to the fact since online dating is a rather anonymous experience and people can hide behind their computers while insulting you.

Thus, make sure that you are mentally able to deal with unpleasant comments before you decide to join those online dating services.

You don’t know what intention the person really has

Online dating can also be potentially dangerous.

In fact, you will not know with whom you communicate.

In fact, if you meet the person in real life for the first time, you also don’t know what the intention of this person really is.

In turn, you may meet up with people who may be potentially dangerous or mentally sick.

Many people give up online dating after a while

While a high number of people think that online dating can improve their chances to find a partner at first, many of them give up online dating after a while.

In fact, only a small minority of people will be successful to find a long-term partner online and many people will become quite frustrated with online dating and quit due to that over time.

People will lie regarding their dating profiles

Another problem with dating online is that people often lie in their online dating profiles.

In fact, many people only display their positive attributes and greatly exaggerate while they hide their negative characteristics.

In fact, people lie quite a lot in online dating and chances are that you will never be able to figure out people in online dating before you finally meet them in real life.

Privacy concerns related to online dating

Opponents of online dating also often claim that using those sites implies serious privacy issues.

In fact, you will provide plenty of sensitive data and you will not exactly know where this data will end up and for what it will be used for.

Consequently, if you are a person who is really sensitive regarding privacy issues, online dating may also not be for you.

Should not be your only way of dating

In general, while online dating may be a suitable complement to conventional dating, it should never become your only way to find potential partners.

In fact, you should have various dating channels in place to optimize your overall chances on the dating market.

Matching algorithms are often flawed

While many dating sites claim that their matching algorithms are quite sophisticated, those algorithms are actually often flawed and don’t work in a proper manner.

Moreover, there are so many different factors when it comes to finding a partner that solely using an algorithm for it will not be sufficient most of the time.

Top 10 Online Dating Pros & Cons – Summary List

Online Dating ProsOnline Dating Cons
Online dating can be convenientOnline dating can be costly
Online dating is location-independentFake profiles are a problem in online dating
Can be quite time-efficientOnline dating may attract dodgy people
You can date multiple peoplePeople don’t look like on their profile pictures
Online dating may take away fear of rejectionOnline dating can be frustrating
Online dating can be interestingMany people lack serious intentions
Suitable if you have exotic preferencesPeople lie about their dating profiles
Online dating is socially acceptedPeople may insult you
You don’t have to dress upMany people just give up online dating
Huge variety of potential partnersYou may rather work on yourself

Does Online Dating Work?

As we have seen before, there are many important advantages and disadvantages of online dating.

While online dating can work in some cases, the majority of people will be rather disappointed with the results and if you currently struggle to find a partner in an old school manner, you may rather want to work on yourself in order to improve your chances on the dating market instead of relying on online dating as kind of a magic pill to solve your problems.

Sources

https://swipelife.tinder.com/post/online-dating-tips

https://www.elitesingles.com/mag/relationship-advice/online-dating-tips

https://www.oprahmag.com/life/relationships-love/a25776713/guide-to-online-dating/

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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