Are dating sites safe?

What an important question for this day and age. Gone are the days where dating was marrying your high school or college sweetheart or finding your mate through other friends. With an onslaught of generations not willing or able to date or marry the traditional way, along comes technology providing the ways to meet someone. This is often in the forms of a ‘hook up,’ looking for casual relationships with no commitment or actual relationships that might lead to a commitment of one form or another. There are now as many dating sites as apps are willing to form one to meet all the needs out there. One of the most successful sites was specifically created for married people to meet other married people to have an affair or a one-night stand. But really, what are these sites all about? Do they offer any safety or security in knowing who you are meeting is real, safe, and who they even say they are?

How to break down the dating site to work for you

The first part of using a dating site and ensuring that it is the right site is to ask yourself why you are using a site and what your main goal looks like. If your goal is to meet someone to form a relationship, it is a good idea to research and choose a site that you need to invest in with a profile, possible cost, and safety parameters that they also explain in joining. Secondly, share with loved ones your intentions and make it known that your family and friends are important and know your plans to transparency to your goal and behaviors. This is a good goal to have an online dating or traditionally dating, always to let someone know where you’re going. Third, be discerning. If you feel in your gut someone doesn’t feel right, genuine, too good to be true in too many ways; then it is probably not a good idea. The second set of eyes with a friend or loved one can help you too, especially when you’re feeling vulnerable. And lastly and most importantly, make the first few dates be in relatively public locations and meet the person vs. them picking you up or vice versa. Some clients have found it very settling to find that their prospective date has social media accounts and a professional site and address online, or some other form of identification that denotes real. Additionally, if you feel like there is any control, possessiveness, or too many suggestions about what you should be doing, use that as a red flag. Dating sites can be a great way to meet people but use all these safety precautions and use sites with a solid reputation.