When I was younger and we fancied someone we’d have to pluck up the courage to ‘ask them out’.  Then if successful we’d be ‘going out’ with each other!  The people we met and formed relationships with were always within our friends circles or occasionally met through a night out.  Once I got into my twenties internet dating started to become more well known.  Still, I never knew anyone who joined online adult dating sites and there was perhaps a bit of a stigma attached to doing so.  I personally also worried that it was just be a bunch of perverts online or men lying about themselves with fake photos.  I remember being quite shocked when a friend of my boyfriend at the time admitted meeting her partner on an online dating site!  I say ‘admitted’ because even she asked us to keep it a secret.  She felt embarrassed by how they met and didn’t want to feel judged.

That was around 12 years ago.  Since then perceptions of online dating have dramatically changed and with the rise in social media it’s become a normal way of meeting prospective partners.  In fact it’s even become the normal way of dating for the younger generation right through to over 50s dating and beyond.  Online dating sites mean you can really categorise what you are looking for in a partner to hopefully find the perfect match.  You can also add a profile so people know key information about you and this can stop any awkwardness on a first date as they know your situation.  You can even join a specialised dating site to find a certain match, for example if you’re a single parent dating you might choose to join a single parent’s only dating site.

Online dating sites have got ever so clever and are evolving all the time meaning they are better at ever at finding good matches based on your likes, interests and wants.  Hopefully this means less wasted dates from just meeting random people in a bar or club as you’ll already know if they have interests you enjoy or a personality that will be a match.

For people like me who are too shy to go up to a man and ‘ask him out’, dating sites are perfect.  I’d be much braver at having an initial conversation online, rather than face to face, to see if we click and then taking it from there.  If you don’t get along or seem suitable, then there’s no embarrassment, just move on!  If you do get along, then having some chats online will hopefully mean you’ll have loads to talk about when you do go on the first real date.

If you Google ‘is online dating a good thing?’ or similar, you’ll be presented with a range of articles either strongly criticising it or strongly in favour of it.  I personally think it’s a great thing in the modern digital age and if I were single I’d definitely use online dating sites to try and find love, especially with children as I never go out to pubs and clubs anymore!  I don’t think it will totally replace people who are brave enough to ask someone out in person, but I think it has great benefits for those who struggle to get out much or are quite introvert.