Twenty years or so ago, there was a fairly standard number of ways to meet the \’love of your life\’. You might meet through friends, via the workplace, a social group, or perhaps even \’accidentally.\’ In these situations, you would invariably meet the person face-to-face in the beginning, then move on to phone calls, letters and cards.

And then along came the Internet, which has added a significant new means to meet someone special, particularly those who use dating websites. And, what\’s more, the usual process is somewhat reversed: with the internet, you start with messages and emails, then move to phone calls, and – all going well – to a face-to-face meeting or date.

In this article, I\’ll contrast and compare the Internet dating experience with the more traditional means of getting to know someone. There are pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) to both scenarios – neither one is necessarily \’right\’ or \’wrong\’. But I hope by the end of this article, that you\’ll have a better idea of which might be right for you.

Internet dating has many positives. For starters, on most paid or free (that is, you won\’t pay to use the site\’s basic features) dating sites you\’ll be able to search many thousands of people\’s profiles very easily. So in terms of sheer numbers, in a very short amount of time, the internet is a winner.

Internet dating sites also let you be very specific (if you so choose) about the kind of person you\’re looking for. For example, you might be a man who is looking for a vegetarian, left-wing woman with blue eyes who doesn\’t smoke and lives within a certain distance from your home. On many dating sites, it\’s possible to be that specific!

Another key factor in favour of using online services is that they are fairly \’safe\’. That is, you can be anonymous, you don\’t give out your email address or phone number, and your details are confidential, until such time as you want to reveal them to someone you trust and would like to meet.

But internet dating has it\’s downsides. Firstly, it is very hard to evaluate someone just from profile information and a photo. They might be lying. When you meet someone face-to-face at the beginning of the social process, you have a much better chance of seeing someone for who they are, at least in terms of \’looks\’, height, intelligence and so forth.

Online dating can thus lead to disappointment. The person who sounded amazing during your email or even phone conversations may turn out to be a \’dud\’ when you finally meet them in the real world. And perhaps that all-important \’spark\’ or \’chemistry\’ isn\’t there, despite messages and phone calls which indicated otherwise.

The longstanding traditional methods of meeting people are more uncomfortable at the beginning, and the number of people you can meet is very limited. However, you will usually be able to tell right at the beginning whether you\’re interested in someone, or not. Emails and phone calls come later. Traditional dating can sometimes have the advantage of already knowing something about the person before you meet them – perhaps a friend or family member wants you to meet someone they know, that they think will be \’right\’ for you. This can be an advantage, although in my experience other people often choose unsuitable people as a match for you, despite their best intentions.

Using the internet and dating sites is very convenient but the sheer number of options can be a bit daunting at first. And it can be disheartening after many messages and contact with someone, that the face-to-face meeting does not go well. Of course, there are many times when your first date will be an astounding success. However, the general rule is that you\’ll need to date quite a few people before knowing that you\’ve met the one that just right for you.

In summary, internet dating is fast, convenient, safe and provides the opportunity for you to meet many more people than you would using traditional methods. On the other hand, traditional dating means you establish everything much more \’up front\’ at the beginning, and there\’s the added advantage of recommendations from friends and family.

Perhaps one strategy is to use a combination of dating methods, giving you the best of both worlds – the convenience and low-cost (particularly on free dating sites) of the internet, with the social adventure of the usual means of meeting new people.

Author Bio: A freelance article writer, Charles L. Jackson has been writing articles about dating for http://www.gofishdating.com since 2006. This is a free dating site which is well-known for globally connecting singles from many countries. You\’re welcome to check out the site at: http://www.gofishdating.com.

Category: Dating
Keywords: free dating,free dating website,free dating site,free online dating,free internet dating