The internet is great for a lot of things and communication is
certainly one of them. It can connect you to people you wouldn't normally meet in everyday life
and can even filter them down to someone who has the same interests as you. When it comes to
dating, this can be a great thing. It can assure that people have things in common and are
looking for the same things in life.
However, the internet also
allows people to have a great deal of control over how they're perceived. It's relatively easy
to paint your online persona as who you would like to be rather than who you are. People can be
very different in person than they are online. For example, it's easy to say you have a great
sense of humor on a dating site and to write witty things in an e-mail when you have hours to
think of them; however this doesn't translate into being funny in real life
interactions.
Just as online representations can make someone seem
more appealing than they'd be in real life, the way they choose to present themselves online
might also lead to them being written off by someone who would be a great match. Just think of
all the ways you'd react to someone's profile picture. It's a very heavy first impression.
Online dating brings with it the possibility of missing a great person, with whom you might feel
an instant "spark" in real life, for a silly reason like a bad profile
picture.
This doesn't necessarily mean that online dating is better
or worse than traditional dating, but it is certainly different. Also, it seems to work best
when it is not used as an alternative to dating in person, but as a supplement. Online dating
sites are meant to connect people so they can meet and start a real relationship in person. When
two people merely e-mail instead of meeting in person, they develop a relationship with an online
persona instead of an actual person.
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