Dangers of Online Dating

I recently came across an article on OKCupid (one of the major online dating sites) titled THE BIG LIES PEOPLE TELL IN ONLINE DATING. The information was really disturbing. Although the benefits of the internet are many, it's risks are more than double it's rewards. It's no secret that millions of people manipulate the anonymity of the internet to become someone they're not--online, it's easy to lie about your age, your looks, or even your marital status. As the member services manager here at Precision Dating, I have unfortunately heard horror stories from now happy members who were once online dating victims (long before they heard about us and made the wise decision to join a secure, private club). I've met women--and men--who unknowingly carried on lengthy relationships with someone they met online who turned out to be married! What a waste to give your heart away for many valuable months to someone who can never truly cherish it.

Of course, that's not the only thing online daters lie about (though it's by far the worst). According to OKCupid's research, men and women are also deceptive about the following:

HEIGHT

The claim: "I'm 6 feet tall"

The reality: People are two inches shorter in real life. The average U.S. man is 5'9". The fictitious height of the average OKCupid man is 5'11".

The reasoning: Psychologically speaking, 6'0" tall is the ideal height for a man, so men will subconsciously round up in an attempt to get closer to this number.

INCOME

The claim: "I make $100,000 a year"

The reality: People are 20% poorer than they say they are AND people exagerrate their income MORE as they get OLDER

The reasoning: There's many reasons why men lie about their income (they want to impress you, it's an obvious indicator of success, they want to impress themselves, etc.) But also, according to OKC's research, the more a man makes, the more activity he gets on his online profile...which leads to more dates.

LOOKS

The claim: "Here's a recent picture of me!"

The reality: The more attractive the picture, the more likely it is to be out of date

The reasoning: Of course, we all want to be seen in our best light. We know what we look like at our absolute best, and we want others to know it, too. That's understandable. But if the picture does not accurately portray what you look like TODAY, it's deceptive, and may be drawing people in under false pretenses.

All in all, 9 OUT OF 10 people lie in some way, shape, or form in an online dating profile. It's not such a big deal if a woman lists her hair color as brown when she's really a dark blonde, but if the lie is about being a successful businessman when he's really unemployed, or about being single with no kids when he's married and has eleven, then you're about to potentially embark on a relationship with someone who not only KNOWS how to lie, but has no problem doing it.