Online dating often gets an undeserved bad rap.
Shows like Catfish sensationalise the negatives of online dating, rarely, if ever, showing the up sides. The media, so-called web and relationship experts and internet fear mongers everywhere jump at the opportunity to promote their hypothesis that everyone on the big, bad internet is either psychologically twisted, out to steal your money or your identity and no one online is to be trusted. The sub-text is “offline=good, online=bad”, especially when it comes to looking for love.
To that I say, “Rubbish, bullocks, bullshit!”
As in the offline world, online you will find good, bad, honest, deceitful, trustworthy, dishonourable, exciting, boring, intelligent, ignorant, happy, morose, passionate, apathetic, beautiful, unattractive, tall, short, young, old… (you get my point) people.
The online world is a microcosm of the offline world.
Offline or online, do you not try making friends because you have one enemy? Do you not trust anyone ever again because you had a promise broken? Do you stop looking for love because you’ve had your heart broken?
Worse yet, do you you cower in fear, paralysed into inaction because someone, somewhere, at some point in time had a bad a experience?
No, you don’t!
You find balance. You respect that there is the potential for a negative experience, but you focus on the positive. You take calculated risks. You learn from others. You implement safeguards. And then you harness your inherent optimism, create some truly great experiences and share them with everyone who’ll listen.
The positive needs promoting. It’s out there. Everyday, people using online dating sites are having a few laughs, making new friends, getting lucky, forming relationships and falling in love.
While not every time, these sites deliver lots of the good stuff lots of the time – the entertainment, the self discovery, the companionship, the sex, the romantic dreams and the happy-ever-afters.
We need to get better at sharing the positive stories and helping others to see the plus side of online dating. This is one of the reasons I wrote eloves me, eloves me not.
And, it’s a key reason I started this Google+ community for fans of online dating to share their stories, their milestones, their inspiring experiences.
If you’re still reading, I suspect you might agree with the notion that the positives far outweigh the negatives when it comes to online dating.
So, if you do and you have great experiences to share, then step over to the Google+ platform, find your voice and start shoutin’ from the rooftops.
There’s a lot of negative noise to overcome. So, online dating fans, let’s crank up the volume on the positive side and drown out the naysayers.
Because there’s a lot that sits on the plus side of online dating!
