Anything written here is only in my experience.

After 10 years in marital solitude and now divorce, I returned to single life to find the world radically altered by online dating.

I saw that everything was replaced by having to sift through profiles like an employer, and then there's the weird responses, lapses in response, communication cuts, drags through alternate web sites out for your money and rampant dating sites. Next to that is long communication lags, blunt force requests (scary) and all in between.

Online dating has turned everything of sorts in to pick and mix at a local sweet shop. Realistically in the real world, you might only have physically been able to approach 1 to 2 people in a day given your guts and limited to your local dating pool, friend of your friend type scenarios, sometimes weeks or months would pass.

But now the option is to flick a few fingers and you've got access to hundreds. I think that's just an illusion of choice, or maybe just plain information over load.

There are just options now with out a physical consequence attached to it, because everything is behind a screen.

Can't Imagine what it's like for sort after women being barraged by hundreds of men.

What happened to good old fashioned get her/his number, and lets meet at xyz?

Im inclined to believe that online dating for most people is not their first preference.

Many resort to this abstract form of dating, after the more traditional options have failed them repeatedly or because their schedule doesnt allow for signing up for new offline activities that allow for new face to face interactions

Sad to say that online is often a garbled mess of people. Everything from the painfully shy to players, workaholics, to those who barely take a bath but think they are still desirable because they have a pulse.

Fortunately you can learn the ropes and learn some of the weeding out tips and the field gets a little clearer.

It still comes down to if you are dateable and how well you get that across so you attract what you want. Doesn't hurt a bit if you make some online friends you can ask to give you the behind the sceans info.

Good post! And very well written. Online dating has changed how people date and meet people that's for sure. I think it has changed it for the worse. So many men on here and other sites say they don't know how to approach a woman in public....well get out from behind your computer ya ninny!

I also think online dating has changed the dating scene for the worse. People's expectations have become higher and social skills lower. I much prefer the old fashion way of actually being in the same room, eye to eye contact, body language and responses in real time, rather that sometimes waiting hours or even days for someone to log back on! Then when you finally do meet they're 10+ years older than on their profile pics. So now I expect nothing more than conversations within the forums and enjoy the single experience till fate deems something different for me.

on line dating made it possible for me to be nearest to dating as i can in the real world lol

Online dating is not bout staying behind a screen. It's about finding someone online and meeting in real life.

It is not a last resort, it was my first choice, because of where I live. (remote area).

It's not a sweet shop, it's not like you can choose whatever you want. All the things that are required off the net are required on the net just the same.
And yes, you have more options. You are not limited to your local area only like our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. I think that is wonderful!

If I'd been limited to the local 'assortment' I would've been doomed. People in this province are generally very short and really not my type. The way they are is too different from where I come from, I don't get along with them so well. And most look like "farmer John. No my type.

Made me lol
Are there lots of farmers daughters were you live. They have quite a reputation here.

what heck did people do before da internetz


say you live in a small, remote area

single

what were your options?

meet someone on a blind date set up by a friend

" hey you would really like this guy"

meet someone by chance at the store, church, bowling, donut shop

you have a very small perimeter around where you lived

so if you wanted to find someone

you had to make due with someone that lived where you lived


online dating expands that perimeter outward

also it opens to doors to communication with others

that might live close by that you have not run into by chance

Yes it does make it easier for those that live in remote areas or very small towns, so I see for some it is the only option .Internet dating you read a profile you like how it sounds, like their pic write them a note, you start writing, phoning each other (pre greet) and find out that everything they wrote is just words to them, they have mastered the art of writing what they know will attract women (or men). Is that mannipulative? Is that lying? And yes I am finding that the older I get the more jaded I am with dating,

Grin...

they decided to make dating apps now

It certainly has increased and improved the possibilities of finding a partner which is a good thing, but until you meet in person they are no more than a pen pal, and once you meet up, dating is no different than it was before however you may have met them.

i love this

Hi

Very valid points..I kind of believe that if God intended someone to be in your life..he would make it happen and he would make it happen when the timing is right for both people. unfortunately we don't always have the same timing..so we hunt and peck on line with hope to find something special only mostly to be disappointed.

It is not specifically online dating as much as it is "social media" that has changed the world and destroyed social skills.

Very Very true...sadly enough...anyone can blast out stuff on social media...hide behind a key board..be someone they are not..but I still feel there are genuinely good people out there somewhere....

Of course there are. The problem is, people spend too much time looking for them all over the world when they should be socializing in their reality.