By Amy Noesser, Account ExecutiveIn today’s globally connected environment, technology continues to play an ever-increasing role in people’s lives. From ordering pizza to flowers online, it seems technology knows no limits. And now, it’s trying to take over our love lives.
Online Dating Magazine (yes, it’s a real publication) reports that the peak season for online dating is the day after Christmas until the day after Valentine’s Day, during which time online dating sites experience up to a 20 percent increase in traffic and usage.
So, if don’t have the ability to quit your job, work out incessantly for 8+ weeks, blow your life savings on a new designer wardrobe and go on The Bachelor/The Bachelorette to find love the “easy” way, here’s why you should embrace online dating….with trace amounts of caution.
A CNN story on the subject suggests that the site you choose for your online matching making is almost paramount to the people you choose to befriend once on the site. Long-term relationship sites, such as Match.com and eHarmony, tend to attract a more honest subset of online daters, while other sites like Zoosk.com attract a more flirtatious, less-serious and therefore less-truthful clientele. A quick visit to any of the online dating options and I think you’ll find it’s fairly easy to categorize almost any dating site just from the homepage.
Another unique point in the CNN study suggests that those who do choose to falsely represent themselves on online dating sites aren’t necessarily doing so with the intention of getting a date that is equally as thin, or as successful or as good-looking as they portray themselves to be. This action more directly relates to a person’s sense of self-awareness and his or her desire to please others. Essentially the story states that a person who would lie on an online dating profile would also tell the same lie in-person because he or she wants to be liked and to fit in. So, the ability to hide behind a computer screen doesn’t really encourage people to lie, as long as we are talking about the “long-term” relationship seeker.
Interestingly, men indicated that they were more likely than women to lie in every category except weight, accordingly to the story which was based on a study out of the University of Kansas.
All this to say, online dating shouldn’t be met with as much skepticism as a political debate, and can be a viable option for busy people who have exhausted their dating options in their current social circles. But just for giggles, check out the top list of things people lie about on online dating sites so you can bring a healthy and informed amount of skepticism to the online dating table. Happy browsing!
- Height: Online fibbers tend to add up to 2 inches to their real height.
- Income: Expect the more “short-term” relationship sites to have users who are actually about 20 percent poorer than they claim.
- Photos: Be on guard that “recent” can be quite subjective on online dating sites. A recent scan of OkCupid found the more attractive the photo, the more likely the photo was to be outdated.
- Sexual Orientation: Those online users who marked “bisexual” were more likely to message only one gender rather than both genders. Also interesting to note, the older the user, the less likely he/she is to mark bisexual when he/she really is only interested in one gender.
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