5 Reasons Why Online Dating Will Become the Primary Way to Meet Someone

From its humble beginnings in the form of online personal ads, online dating has evolved into a series of websites that use complex algorithms to lead users to their best possible matches. Public consensus of finding a partner online has shifted from social taboo to socially acceptable (yet not without a little stigma) in recent years. If its current rate of growth is any indication, online dating will become the premier way to meet people and begin relationships in the not-too-distant future.

If You Still Haven?t Jumped On the Online Dating Bandwagon, Consider …

1. ?Online dating has already correlated with a decline in traditional means of meeting a partner.

Twenty-one percent of couples who met around 1940 were first introduced to each other in school, a figure that has dropped to five percent in recent years. Twenty-five percent of couples who met around that time were introduced through family, compared to 10 percent in more recent surveys. In 1990, 40 percent of couples met through work, and 20 percent through friends. Both of those figures have since declined in approximately the same timespan that online dating became an increasingly viable option for the single population.

2. ?Certain segments of the population have an easier time meeting someone online.

If you?re Jewish and have your heart set on marrying within the religion, you won?t find a greater pool of singles than on JDate, one of many niche dating sites that help users meet other singles of a certain religion, ethnicity or lifestyle. PinkCupid (for lesbians), Farmers Only (for farmers and rural folk) and Cougar Life (for cougars and cubs) are other examples of sites that drastically increase the odds of meeting a partner you might not easily find in person.

3. ?Social barriers don?t exist online.

Approach anxiety doesn?t come into play online. Your target?s friends aren?t going to come pull her away. She won?t have to worry about looking like a slut in front of her friends. No other guys are going to try to out-alpha you. And every girl on any online dating site (with very few exceptions) are single and open to meeting someone, as opposed to girls at bars, some of whom are already in committed relationships or are otherwise not receptive to being approached.

4. ?Research has shown it?s possible to achieve a sense of intimacy online.

Researchers previously believed that an authentic emotional connection could only happen in person; however, new studies have shown online interactions can generate strong feelings of intimacy before an in-person meeting ever takes place. Combining the ability to create intimacy without having to confront the barriers that could inhibit you from meeting her in person makes online dating the most efficient way to meet someone.

A couple quick tips: Reply to her messages sooner, rather than later, to convey a sense of closeness and use emoticons (but don?t abuse them) to give your messages an emotional punch.

5. ?Advancement of online dating ties in with the singularity.

If you?re not familiar, the singularity is the hypothesized point in the future when artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. Some of the more extreme theories say a robot race will emerge and become the dominant species on this planet, possibly eliminating humans in the process. Others say humans and technology will merge to form a human/computer hybrid race. How might that affect the future of online dating? Meeting girls might become a bodily function.

On a serious note, online dating has grown exponentially over the past couple decades and has had an unprecedented influence on relationship formation. There aren?t any reasons to believe its growth will plateau anytime soon.