Which is easier? Hunting for a date online or hunting for a date outside of cyber space? There’s no easy answer to that, because the best answer is, it depends.
Traditional Dating. This is just like going on a safari. You go into the concrete jungle, look for prey, and try to capture her/him as your prize. Here, you have different hunting grounds. You have the clubs, malls, Saturday night parties, bowling alleys, parks, and even churches! Hunters hang around these places and patiently wait for the prey. If a flock of potentials show up, the hunter will then choose the one he fancies before he starts to pounce.
Sometimes, a hunter is accompanied by a guide, someone who is more familiar with the hunting ground or knows a lot about the targeted mate. The guide tells the hunter what the best places are to frequent and what qualities attract the potential mate. In this case, no pouncing is needed, but rather the art of taming.
In traditional dating, physical attraction takes place initially. Once it has been established, they move on to the next level. They will now find out if they are meant for each other. Here, they will determine if they can trust each other, if they can be comfortable, and if they can connect emotionally. If things are great, they will be together for as long as they can, if not, they’ll just simply go back to the hunting grounds and start all over again.
Online Dating is like searching for a job. Your hunting grounds are different online dating sites. You search for the best dating site you can find which offer the best options. Here, you build yourself up first through flattering pictures, an impressive profile, and a display of wit through your posts. Physical attraction is not necessarily the initial thing that develops here since most of the searchers either don’t put their actual photos or display pictures taken 5-10 years ago as avatars. At this stage, you don’t sell your physical looks, you sell how interesting you can be to your potential mate. Then, after a series of chats, e-mails, chat calls, etc, you ready yourself for the next step which is your first meeting or date. This is where the physical attraction phase usually kicks in. Since here you can now see how genuine the person you’ve been chatting with is. So, it is really important for you to be honest in the first place.
So there you go. If you ask me, there’s really no difference between online and offline dating. It is only the medium and technique that you use to meet your potential mate that differs. But, more or less, they’re just pretty much the same. And here’s the only online dating tip I can give. Be true to yourself, be interesting, and be different from the rest.
