There is one thing you can count on at the beginning of the year: a slew of commercials aimed at starting out anew including weight loss commercials and online dating. The other day, I counted at least 5 eHarmony commercials and 2 Match.com during primetime. It got me to thinking, what is the actual success rate of online dating?
Let me preface this conversation by saying that I met my husband online in 1998. I actually met him in a chat room (remember those?) and we struck up a cyberfriendship because we both happened to be from St. Louis. At that time he was living in Ohio and I was living in Florida and we thought it was neat that we would meet online and be from the same hometown.
At that time, we were not searching for love and the Internet was still a pretty “safe” place. We started chatting more and more online and began emailing one another and in 2000, we finally met face to face and the rest was history. We did not go in search for love online, it just happened that way.
But I know of many people who go online to search for that perfect someone. I have had my share of horror stories as well when it comes to dating online. I’ve never used a dating site, though, but I know of several of my friends who have went on dates via an online dating service. Most of the time, these experiences did not end too well.
The Internet is a scary place. People can be who they want to be online and not give it a second thought. The shy violet in the corner becomes a barracuda, so on so forth. There are times even myself that I can find myself saying something on Facebook or Twitter and look back at it like, wow was that me? How does one determine the real from the fake in dating situations which begin online?
I would like to start an ongoing series about this subject, especially since it is so prevalent in our society these days. If you have an online dating story that you do not mind telling me or me blogging about, please email me at mail@thecubiclechick.com. Your real name does not have to be used. Email me or comment below. I am anxious to get started!
I have no problem with "internet" dating. I have met a couple people from online but of course it didn't start out as me searching for someone to date. Dating sites, I don't get those. They hard and harder to find the real person..*shrugs*. I'm pretty open, I'll try anything. It beats being set up on a blind date! I rather I pick the person and if they are going to be someone I didn't think they would be, I would rather it be my fault too.lol
Internet dating is far greater than a blind date in my book.
There are pros and cons to almost every dating situation, no matter how you meet the person. I am not downing online dating, just trying to understand it because all I hear are horror stories of how it didn't work out. Thank you for sharing!
Twitter: tanijoy
says:
I have dated online before. One of those relationships lasted almost 3 yrs. We are still in contact, no beef just parted ways. My last relationship was formed online as well, that one lasted a year, still in contact as well. I have never gotten out of ANY relationship in a bad situation. I talk to most of my exes still. lol I've only been dumped once in my life and we got back together. : ) I'm the heartbreaker. Anyways I don't see anything wrong with it, to me it's the same as meeting at a club. The person can fake in person as well as online. I say if you vibe with someone online, there's nothing wrong with taking it further. I have a few one time online meet ups for dinner/movie, but I won't go into all of that…. that's a book.
I say go for it. I'm all for internet dating. : ) p.s. I am single and looking.
i have dated online before.. actually i met my current boyfriend on a social netwoorking site and we've been together a year now!
there are definetly pros/cons . You just have to be careful.