Its Called a ROUGH Dratf fro a reason!

Online Dating

Shannon Ashford

English 113B TTh 2:00

September 23, 2013

            In our society, there are many ways to get connected with someone who can become your potential, friend, best friend, enemy, boyfriend/girlfriend, or maybe even a husband or a wife. All of which is done through having a mutual friend, meeting someone at a club or bar, social media, online dating cites, and many more. Online dating has received a lot of attention in the past decade. There is a dramatic increase on the amount of people participating in an online source. I believe that negativity has come forth to the topic of online dating. Online dating has grown to be the only resort for many people to find a partner and have a special connection with.

            In our generation, it is more common to find someone through an online dating site versus running into them at a place that is outside of the Internet. I’m not going to lie people do have ability to be senseless. They’ll meet the “perfect match” via Internet and believe that that person is the one for them. They will then lead on their relationship onto a higher level. However, they might not be who they say they are. “However, according to Gibbs, Ellison, and Heino (2006), 86% of users feel that online daters misrepresent their physical appearance because daters can easily manipulate their photographs in the virtual world.” MTV’s hit show, Catifish, has taken over the dating world. Catfish is a show about two boys, Nev and Max helping couples meet face to face for the first time after dating for a few months maybe even 10 years. There has been two seasons of this show and so far no one has been who he or she say they are. It’s heart breaking. Online dating has the ability to lower the confidence of a person and he or she’s love life.

            People claim there is something positive when it comes to online dating.  People do gain more confidence on talk to a person they are physically attracted to. Their standards may or may not increase, making it more flexible for a person to get to know someone. Although you can view a picture of the person you’re talking to, you’re not too quick to judge when seeing them on the Internet. If s person is unattractive to you, you are most likely going to talk to that person on your online dating network then in real life. Yes you may not start build a relationship thinking its not going to go further than just being friends because he’s or she is “too nice,” but sometimes, the physical attraction might gain when you’re into that persons personality. Online dating has led to strong relationships, which has even led to marriages. This shows that there is some success when dating someone online.

            Although there area a few positive outcomes on online dating, the negatives take over the outcome of dating over the Internet. Yes people become more confident when they’re talking to someone over the web, but what about when they meet that person face to face. They might become a little shy and or socially awkward. Once that happens, the relationship can turn around, in a bad way.  Marriages are taken place for couples that have met and dated online. However, there is a large percent of those marriages that unfourtanetly end in a failure.

            It is difficult for an average worker to maintain the necessities in our economy. When you register to date online, it’s costly. The online dating site can manage to successfully gain billions of dollars from people seeking a relationship.  “Cost may be a big issue for some. While online dating services may provide different prices for their services, there is a general understanding that it may cost a single person about $250 per year for only an annual subscription and nothing else.” Many people look at the monthly or annually cost and think that it doesn’t seem like a lot but in the end, it all adds up. You’re basically paying to possibly be in a relationship with someone who you’ve never met in person.  Hundreds of dollars could be saved from one person who has the desire to start a relationship over the web.

            Online dating has resulted in many failures. It is costly, unfaithful, and encourages people to not adventure out and find their true love. It may also lead someone to be in a dangerous situation.  Online dating causes much heartbreak by encouraging people on lying about their true self. The negative outcome on online dating overpowers the positives.

Work Cite

Online Dating Services - Chronology and Key Features Comparison with Traditional Dating

            Ali, Azad I; Wibowo, Kustim Competition Forum9.2 (2011): 481-488.

Contradictory deceptive behavior in online dating Department of International Trade, Chinese Culture University, 55, Hwa-Kang Rd., Yang-Ming-Shan, Taipei 11114, Taiwan,             ROC