I’ve totally been blown away with the amount of offline relationships created through online portals such as eHarmony, Match.com or Plentyoffish, to name few.
According to Statistic Brain, an online statistics company, there are 54 million single people in the U.S. and 40 million of those people have tried online dating.
I can admit, I’m one of those 40 million who tested out the waters, but I never took myself or the other person seriously. Realistically, I never could trust who they said they were or if their profile photo was even them.
When online dating erupted in 1990s account users were minimally screened, polluting the appeal to those seriously seeking a relationship. Moreover, frequenters of those sights were often thought of as desperate having to look online to find a date.
The thought of being placed in the same category of ‘love losers’ made me quiver and delete all my accounts I ever created.
So how did online dating develop? To some, the start of chat rooms and different forums promoting interaction amongst users was the birth mother. To others, once pictures and other visual elements came into existence, that’s when actual dating sites came into play.
Over the years, my acceptance of online dating has matured. Although I don’t look to online dating for meeting my next ex-boyfriend, I do know of individuals that have found success and are happy.
If you’re considering online dating, just do it. There’s nothing wrong with exploring your options. Think of online dating as the modern day pen pal. If you don’t like what they say—delete them.