Gets old, doesn’t it? Yet another miserable blind date. Yet another evening out with the girls looking for love in all the wrong places. Yet another guy you thought might be promising, but who turned out to have commitment issues. Yet another wedding to go to where you’re the bridesmaid, not the bride.
Is this ever going to end? Is there no one out there meant just for you? Does no one like the same things you do, or at least a few of them? Have you begun to feel like you don’t have a reasonable chance of living reasonably happily ever after?
Maybe its time to suck it up and try online dating. Before you reject that possibility, consider the following:
- Forty percent of American adults now use online dating sites to meet compatible others.
- The male-female ratio on these sites breaks down 52.4% for men and 47.6% for women.
- Upward of 10% of today’s marriages began with an online meeting.
- Upward of 20% of today’s committed long-term relationships began with an online meeting.
- While 49% of current dating site users admit that they’re looking for attractive physical characteristics, 64% say they’re looking for someone with whom they have something in common.
New Study Results
Now a study strongly suggests that relationships that begin online have a far better chance of succeeding than those that begin in the old-fashioned way; i.e., through a personal meeting. Why? Because partners who meet online are far more likely to be compatible than those who meet in person. This conclusion bears out statistics that have existed for years. Even as far back as 2012, a 19,000-person study of couples married during the previous seven years revealed that those who met online reported their marriage as considerably more satisfying than did those who had met some other way. Furthermore, of those couples who had already divorced, far fewer of them had met online than in person.
The Theories
Researchers theorize that eligible singles who meet online likely are more interested in finding a long-term relationship, up to and including marriage, than those who meet in a bar or other traditional singles hangout place. Another theory has more to do with the law of averages. With over 40 million people on online dating sites, this represents far more people than you could ever hope to personally come into contact with. And the more people to whom you’re exposed, the more likely it will be that you’ll meet someone with similar interests.
The Safety Factor
Admittedly, the anonymity offered by dating sites means that you run the risk of meeting people who aren’t really who or what they proclaim to be. A full 53% of online dating site users admit that they lied on their profile, at least a little. For example, 20% of women said they uploaded an older photograph of themselves rather than a current one. And 40% of men admitted they puffed up their job so as to appear more successful than they really are.
And then there are those people looking for only extremely casual relationships. Badults abound on dating sites, so you’ll need to carefully sort through your list of possible matches before agreeing to meet someone in person. But think about it. Better a sorting process ahead of time than an undesirable, possibly even dangerous, in-person date.
Bottom line, online dating can present you with a whole new dating experience. You may well discover that you spend less overall time, and certainly less money, finding your dating partners online than you would if you have to rely on chance meetings or blind dates. And who knows? Your online match may just turn out to be your real-life match.
