Am I Limiting Myself by Not Dating Online?

Nick Slade

Written by: Nick Slade

Nick Slade

Nick spent 20 years in the dating scene before marriage. He has always been the guy friends would come to for advice on relationships, and he developed a knack for giving helpful insights. After college, Nick was a disc jockey for a few years, when the love generation was still alive, so Nick has a lot of relevant experience to draw from when it comes to every aspect of dating, falling in love and screwing things up. He holds Bachelor's degree in humanities and a slew of master’s credits in journalism. Nick is a news junkie and tries to keep up on the latest non-fiction when he has time. He has published two books on how to win at dating and relationships.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

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If you aren’t getting enough dates (or the right kind of dates) with your current methods, try something new.

Online dating is a mainstream trend. There is no shame or stigma attached to it any longer, and it has provided millions of great connections for people who would never have met in the traditional ways.

Legitimate dating sites are just different versions of virtual communities like Facebook and Myspace. While Facebook frowns upon trying to “friend” or meet members who you don’t already know, dating sites are filled with people who are specifically looking to meet new people to date.

Real life is much more limited in the menu of people it allows you to meet. You have your workplace or school, friends of friends and family, and strangers in the places you choose to shop or socialize. Finding the right one is lot like squeezing oranges or thumping melons: You choose one that looks good and try to guess what’s inside.

Unless you have become acquainted through regular casual contact, you’re really dealing with Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to to get.

The blessing and horror of online dating is that there are more people than you can possibly ever meet just a click or two away. You can search for people with the specific qualities you are looking for, and you get a glimpse inside the melon when you read the profile. Online screening is a big advantage over interviewing hundreds of potential lovers in person. First contact doesn’t have any of the fears or tensions that we have in real life. And you can consider hundreds of possible dates and meet a dozen or more people every day.

There really are no limits with online dating, as there are in the real world. It’s just a matter of what you’re comfortable with. There are a lot of great chocolates in every box in the real world, but the online environment allows you to take a little virtual bite of each one before you decide to put it in your shopping cart.

Nevertheless, in order to find out the real flavor of an online date, you need to use the web as a lever to bring that person into the real world where you can meet them. The web is great for screening, but only the real world can let you use all five of your senses to really get to know your date.

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