Traditional Dating vs Online Dating

Traditional dating is quite simple; it is going out to a social event, (Bar, community gathering, library, coffee shop, sporting event, etc,) and meeting people. While you are out, your eye catches someone who tickles your fancy and you make your way over there to start a conversation. While conversing, you decide to give this person your phone number. You both start talking and then one day decide to go out on a date. That is what traditional dating is all about. Make no mistake, meeting people offline is better than meeting them online. Today, people have given up on traditional dating. It’s work. It’s effort. People want that quick relationship and that quick date. And if they get into a situation, they just are a click away from replacing them instead of working things out.

The first thing you see online is someone’s profile picture and dating profile. Not only can they post fake pictures, there have been people who post pictures of what they looked like five years ago! They also can tell you they love life when in fact they complain about just about everything. When you meet someone in person, they can’t pretend they don’t really look like that. There’s no fake picture or who they truly are. You can’t read body language through the computer.

Any site that “claims” to be able to match you to your perfect mate if you fill out all 60 questions, is a hoax. There is NO scientific evidence that backs up these algorithms. If they claim that their scientific algorithms work, why do you need to spend 9 -12 months to find someone with whom you should totally click with right away?

When it comes to love it seems we are at the mercy of our biochemistry. First there is a lust, then an attraction, then love. If we get down to the science, attraction happens in the first 30 seconds. You can’t do that online. Dating online is totally different. Two Words: Choice Overload. Not only are there way too many people on these sites, but you would have to have gone out on 100 dates before you actually have chosen your “perfect match.” Now seriously who has time to not only read through all those profiles, but who has actually gone out with 100 people they have met online?

When you go on a search for love, you are looking to settle. But when you let love find you and unexpectedly, you find the person who is meant for you. Online dating is good for one thing, banging and the quick fix while going out and meeting people the traditional way is for those who want the real thing and refuse to settle. You have to show people you are emotionally available to connect and online you can’t feel or see that connection at all. Not only do you connect emotionally faster in person, but pheromones are known to be involved in sexual attraction and during the most fertile time in her menstrual cycle, a woman gives off a different scent which may make her more attractive to potential male suitors. How can you do that online?

We use Yelp to check which restaurant to go to. Pick movies using another app. We are so anxious to control the outcomes that we are unable to take any real risks. We don’t see Andrew or Andrea as people on dating sites, we see Andrew or Andrea, the 70% perfect match. We don’t see them as people, we see them as objects.

A 2015 study found that positive personality traits actually increase perceived facial attractiveness. So if you are just basing your choice on looks, you maybe choosing in correctly. When you find someone to date traditionally, you already can see or get a glimpse of that person’s personality while online you are only going by what they are telling you.

When you meet people traditionally, you typically see them in a social context, such as how they interact with workmates, friends and family members. Online is made of words and images.

Researchers estimate that 25% of rapists found people to assault through online dating services and being scammed in person is less likely than online. Online dating is great if you want a casual fling, but not for anything longer lasting because there are so many dishonest people seeking cheap thrills. If a situation arises, you can split fast and a click here or there, you have your next fling. Marriage is down 50% because everyone is falling for the, “Your perfect match can be found on this website,” crap.

Traditional dating allows you to learn about your partner slowly over time, preserving an element of mystery and making future discoveries more meaningful. You don’t have to physically meet the individual until you are completely comfortable and secure in your interactions, which can go on for months or even years. All that time you “try” and get to know someone online, you could be actually physically getting to know someone you met in person.

One downside to Internet dating has to do with one of its defining characteristics: the profile. In the real world, it takes days or even weeks for the mating dance to unfold, as people learn each others likes and dislikes and stumble through the awkward but often rewarding process of finding common ground.
Online, that process is telescoped and front-loaded, packaged into a neat little digital profile, usually with an equally artificial video attached.
This means that people may unknowingly skip over potential mates for the wrong reasons. The person you see on paper doesn’t translate neatly to a real, live human being, and there’s no predicting or accounting for the chemistry you might feel with a person whose online profile was the opposite of what you thought you wanted. Offline, that kind of attraction would spark organically.  Also, traditional dating has something so important that online dating doesn’t: The use of one’s intuition.

When you meet a creep or a jerk, your intuition goes off and let’s you know- there’s body language that you are reading and your intuition let’s you know. Whereas online, while we are talking to someone using these sites, we create this image of who we believe these people are like, creating a false pretense and not being able to “weed out” the creeps, jerks, and losers we would have not even given the time of day in person.   So, when you finally meet the online person in person, you false image you created deludes your intuition from working at all- meaning we trust these people when we really shouldn’t.