Dating sites
Some sites openly claim to be intended for spicy encounters. Others are based on cultural tastes and affinities. The best known (such as Meetic, Proximeety ...) are real meeting supermarkets and offer a "wide choice: therefore it is necessary to dedicate time to sorting out the numerous answers.
Then there are the sites that, after a personality test, propose to get in touch with the most "compatible" people.
How to choose the site that's right for you?
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Many sites are free but, inevitably, they do not offer all the services that it is preferable to have to meet the person who might really interest you. If you decide to invest time in this research, it may therefore be useful to use a paid site.
Here are some selection criteria, depending on what you are looking for:
- the automatic selection of the profiles that interest you. Once your registration is validated, it is the site that regularly searches for people who match your selection criteria, which will save you from having to do it yourself; but then you could miss people who might interest you.
- the ability to chat live or just by mail. It depends on whether you prefer to spend time writing emails or, rather, meet people through "fiery" conversations.
- limited access to your profile based on certain criteria. This limits the number of matches, but allows to improve their quality.
- verification of information. Some sites offer a special feature that allows you to automatically delete the profile of those who try to disguise embarrassing details, such as family men who pretend to be single! Attention, most of the paid sites offer free of charge a series of services to women who, generally, are a minority.
The pros and cons of Internet dating
The pros:
- according to the slogans of certain sites, 80% of their users meet a person, and often everything ends with a happy ending. The Internet allows you to meet people you would never meet in real life and to learn about people before meeting her.
- People who come out of a disappointment and have been hurt by the end of a story may be better off seeing their interest in their profile grow in a few clicks.
- Dating sites also have the advantage of clearly indicating the type of meeting required, members are there to meet people and, especially after a certain age, because they are determined to put an end to their solitary life.
The cons:
- the multiplicity of profiles proposed can lead to a certain consumerist attitude, waiting to find the right person.
- these virtual encounters on the internet create many illusions and expectations, and can also induce the temptation to build "another personality, a social status different from the one you have in real life ... Temptation to which those who are faced are also exposed to you.Beware of disappointments, especially when you go from conversations, more or less intimate, in chat, to a real meeting.
How to go from virtual to real?
Here we are, you have been discussing for a longer or shorter time on the Internet, you have exchanged phone numbers and you have made an appointment. You are all excited at the idea of meeting Prince Charming who has been sending you regular emails for a month now. How to avoid the traps?
By making a real selection, before deciding to meet someone. Of course, making a selection of all the proposals you receive is not particularly romantic and gives the impression of preparing job interviews ... but if, for example, the cultural level matters a lot to you, do not insist on meeting men who send you. mail full of errors!
Asking for a photograph can avoid many disappointments. In the virtual world, as in the real one, no one is safe from disappointment; but, everyone knows, on the Internet, people are particularly exposed to this risk, especially if they have so many hopes in a virtual relationship, which risks not being able to withstand the test of reality for 30 seconds.
In fact, dating sites, while giving the impression of being an inexhaustible reservoir of singles, are unable to make you find true love with a flick of a wand, and cannot really help you digest the end of life any faster. a story, an obligatory step before starting "another relationship.
A serious love affair, started in the virtual world as well as in the real one, assumes that you are independent enough not to be in a situation of lack of affection.
To manage the moment of the meeting in the best possible way, you need to play down, without expecting too much from the person in front of you.
The latter is not there to make up for a lack or to respond perfectly to your expectations, you are meeting it to get to know it and then, possibly, to go further.
The Internet facilitates the early stages of a relationship, the meeting and the first contact, but does not eliminate the time needed to get to know each other, an essential prelude to a more serious commitment, if the desire is shared by both.
While waiting for this moment, let yourself be wooed, especially if your suitor got a date easily. Give time to time and learn to really know the person in front of you, so you will avoid being disappointed afterwards.
