Why Online Dating

From the Sunday Times, Innovations:

Most often our problem in finding dates and compatible mates is that we don’t run into enough people everyday.  Most people meet their dates through contacts with common friends or co-workers, or their hobbies and social groups-karate, volleyball, etc., or chance meetings at a bar or night club . When you are single and looking, you are doing well if you are meeting someone interesting to go out with every couple of months.

But Internet dating changes all that. You date with ten times the frequency and 10% of the effort.

Less stressful

The use of online personal ads to get to the audience you desire is quite different from saying a pickup line in a bar about how good someone looks or asking a reception girl or waitress for her telephone number.

The good news is that it is far easier and less stressful than real life situations. Guys, you know well that it is intimidating to go up and talk to a woman in a bar. With online dating, there is no such anxiety. The women who want to know you will write you back. Ladies, yours is the same story. You are tired of waiting around for someone who meets some criteria you have (e.g. wants kids, or likes traveling). By putting such things clearly in your profile, you don't need to reject the guy who is going about asking out every human female form he sees or knows. It saves the time and energy of both parties. You upload your ad, you send some nice small messages to people to make them aware that you are interested in them, and just WAIT. Soon you will get some good responses.

At least single and looking!

Another great thing about online dating is that people advertising on these sites are single and actively looking. Now that may not sound like a big deal, but it is very important! In real life, about 60-70% of the people you meet are NOT single at any given moment, or not ready to date anyway (still ending their previous relationships, generally not feeling well, etc.), so your chances of meeting someone SINGLE and LOOKING are 1 in 3. So that guy who works in the office below you has a girlfriend somewhere in New York, and you are getting unnecessarily excited about him. So much energy in this world is wasted on asking out or getting to know people, only to realize that they already have someone! In online dating, the people are single and looking (there are a small percentage of people who are lying-but we won't worry about them....they exist in real life too, we all know too well...) and that makes the process much more efficient. You are better off trying to communicate with these people who are interested in getting involved with someone.

Let's be practical. In the end it doesn't really matter how you meet people-whether in a bar, through acquaintances, or in a plane ride. The Internet is just a very fast and efficient way, that's all.

Internet Dating is a godsend for single women

Even though we are a civilized world and women are equal to men in many respects-it is still hard for a single woman, all alone, all by herself, to go to a bar and have a drink and try to meet a guy. We are still a male dominated society in this-a guy can go alone to a bar or disco to meet women, but in most places, a woman can't do that. She will be accosted by drunks all the time, labeled as loose, or someone will make silly conclusions about her. That's why it is so rare to find a woman all by herself sitting alone having a drink at the bar, or in a nightclub with her drink, just hanging around.

Think of an online dating site like Match.com as an ultimate bar for women-where a single woman can go with pride, announcing that she is single and looking, with her preferences-with no drunks making her life miserable, with no societal hang ups. In this sense online dating profiles are really a godsend for single women, who always have to find another woman or male friend to accompany them to go to a bar or disco. They can now "advertise" all by themselves; with good profiles, good photos, and what they are looking for.

For single women, online dating has opened up a door which was non-existent before. From the comfort of their home, they can meet men; see their photos, chat with them, call them etc. before meeting them.