Pros & Cons of Online Dating



Hunt Ethridege: So, have you ever been on an online dating site?

Rachael DeAlto: I have.

Hunt: I have, too. I think it's a fairly normal thing these days.

Rachael: Yeah.

Hunt: A lot of people get on them.

Rachael: Great tool.

Hunt: Absolutely. One of the things, though, that it can really influence how you're acting in real life, one of the biggest things I come to is dating burnout.

Rachael: Yeah.

Hunt: When people go online and they almost look at it as a second job. Got to go home. Got to make sure I spend an hour on this. Got to make three dates a week. Got to do this. And by the time they get out and meet these people there is no chemistry, because you're burned out. You've been doing it too much, and you can't enjoy the specialness of it. I think that it's really important that you need to not let it affect you in an adverse way.

Rachael: So, do you say taking a break is maybe a good idea if you're getting burned out? How would you tell someone this?...

Hunt: One is taking a break. Two is making sure you're exploring different forums at the same time and not only referring. We live here in New York City. It's sometimes difficult to meet new people. So a lot of people rely more heavily on the online dating than they do at other points. And it's great as a forum.

Rachael: Yeah. The other thing that I would mention with online dating and how it affects real life dating is online you have so many options.

Hunt: Yeah.

Rachael: And it's always like it's never ending. If this one doesn't work out ,we'll go find another one over here.

Hunt: And people don't invest themselves.

Rachael: Exactly. And that starts to happen in real life dating, too, now, where you think, well that didn't work out with this person. They're okay, but there might be something better. So you know, taking a moment to really recognize, okay this person might be good for me. Hang out with them for a while. Do a couple of more dates with them and see what happens. And then if it's not working out you can go find someone else.

Hunt: Absolutely, because when you're online doing anything, click, click.

Rachael: Click, it's like shopping. I'm going to return that.

Hunt: Right. Exactly.

Rachael: Free shipping.

Hunt: So, make sure that you are coming at it in a different way. You are, like you said, slowing down a little bit, taking some time, and trying to be natural and not be too overly concerned about it.

Rachael: Agreed.

Hunt: So be online, but don't let it affect you in IRL.

Rachael: IRL.

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