Internet Dating Vs. Old-Fashioned Dating

If you are single these days, then most likely you are using the internet in some way to meet people. In the past couple years internet dating has gone from being a weird thing that a friend of a friend has done... to being a normal thing that all single people do (or at least that's what I tell myself to make myself feel better).

While I don't rule out meeting someone the old fashioned way - i.e. bumping into them in my daily life, I definitely think that meeting someone on the internet is a good alternative. Having both options gives you the best of both worlds - and should also make you twice as likely to find a good match - so far this part hasn't actually worked out for me... but here's hoping!

Let's compare the two options side-by-side:

Meeting the Old-Fashioned Way

Pros:

• Can quickly decide if they are shagalicious (I live in London so I can now use words like this


• Can quickly size up their clothing and grooming style to see if it's up to par


• Can smell them (seriously, this is important)


• If after a few minutes of speaking with them, you realize you don't like them, you can run away and leave no trace so can't stalk you electronically (as long as you haven't already given them your phone number)


• It's more organic and therefore less stressful: you meet someone, you speak to them, you decide if you like them... there is no stressing about should I or shouldn't I meet him? Will he look as good in real life as he does in the pictures? Will he think I look like I do in my pictures? Will it be terribley awkward? Is it worth it to waste my time on this date?

Cons:

• Alcohol might seriously impair the judgement of all the pros above


• Lust might get in the way of reality - You might have a passionate night with a total hottie but wake up the next morning to find he can barely compose full sentences


• The fact that he's divorced and has 3 children that live at home might not be readily apparent


• It's difficult to meet people to date in your daily life! My routine focuses on work and gym and travel... I don't have the luck to meet hot men at the supermarket or on a plane, most of the men at my gym are gay, many of my colleagues are very good-looking but are unfortunately all married - and work relationships are a bad idea, and meeting guys at bars and clubs has not really been working out for me lately

Meeting on the Internet

Pros:

• It's easy and can be done in the privacy of your own bedroom (I mean the sitting in bed with your laptop searching through profiles! What were you thinking)?


• You can quickly compare your interests to his (especially if he has filled out the handy side-by-side comparison form where you eve get a compatibility rating)


• Easy to practice selective searching to find your type such as: ovser 6 feet tall, no children, makes 6 figures


• Important things are stated clearly up front in print such as: marital status (never married, divorced, separated), number of children and if said children live at home or away from home, the number of children they want to have in the future (for some reason most men choose 3), whether or not they smoke, how often they drink (never, regularly, social drink - maybe 1 or 2), whether they live alone or live with roommates, what pets they like, how often they exercise, what their interests/hobbies are...


• It's easy to tell if you are his type since he has specified the qualites he is looking for including: age range, hair and eye color, body shape (curvy, slender, about average, a few extra pounds, athletic and toned), education, and if they find the following things to be turn-ons: brainiacs, long hair, thunderstorms, skinny dipping, candlelight, assertiveness


• Sweet emails from attractive men are like the modern day love letter - who doesn't get a thrill out of man telling you that you are the most beautiful woman he has seen out of all the millions on Match.com?


• It can be a Big confidence booster. When I'm feeling down. I "Wink" at men and hope they write me sweet nothings back - seriously even if you are luckier in love than me and are actually in a relationship, you should still sign up for Match just to try this out. It's awesome!


• There are so so many men to choose from - don't like one, another one is just a click away

Cons:

• Can't accurately judge clothing style or grooming habits so you might end up on a date with a guy with high wasted khakis and Birkenstocks with socks (so far this hasn't happened to me)


• Their entire profile might be one big lie - or at least full of little small lies - I mean they are trying to make themselves look as appealing as possible
  
• They might not look like their picture in person

You get a lot of emails and winks from men you deem not compatible (i.e. NOT HOT) - seriously out of the 500 winks and emails I received in the last month, I "removed" 455 men

• It's time consuming (especially the "removing" the not hot men part) - you can literally spend hours in your little virtual world of searching for and writing to hot men on the internet


• Men sometimes get obssesive and stalk you - this can get ugly but luckily Match invented a handy "Block" function to prevent ugly stalkers from bothering you just with a click of a button! Isn't technology amazing?


• No matter how many times you write to someone, it's still a blind date, you are meeting a stranger and it's kind of stressful


• You might decide you really like someone on the Internet then never hear from them again - I mean you are just one in a million of accessible women competing for the seemingly few decent men


• Might accidentally stumble across a colleague and then they can see that you have checked their profile and they can go and check out yours!*

After comparing the two side by side my conclusion is: Why choose? Why not do both?

*This actually happened to me! Embarrassing! I don't really want my colleague checking out all my sexy flirty pictures on my Match profile page! However... I guess in the world of Old Fashioned dating, you would probably stumble across your colleague at a work Christmas party and bring him home with you to check out your sexy flirty panties! At least I have heard that sometimes happens at work Christmas parties - not saying that this is ever something that I have done! ;)