Online Dating: Cautious now for better well-being later

Abstract

Online dating has been rising for 2 decades. Adults prefer cyberspace to find their potential partners and move away from the traditional methods of seeking romantic relationships. Thus, this chapter aims to create more awareness among the readers on how to be more cautious and mindful while looking for ‘The One’ in the world of the internet. The initial part of the chapter discusses some fundamentals of a general dating environment like seeking companionship, commitment, trust, and connections, followed by providing statistics and the prevalence rate of using online dating applications. It then highlights the significance of forming meaningful connections for the overall well-being of humans. The next part of the chapter describes anxiety reduction, self-disclosure, and relationship satisfaction and how these factors play a role in pursuing meaningful bonds using virtual space. The later part of the chapter educates the readers about the trending scams in the name of finding ‘the one’ in the virtual world and things to look out for. The author has used the existing literature to bring up catfishing/altered self-representation, authentication scams, and personal identity theft scams. The case study approach is then utilized as a piece of evidence to depict the necessity to stay cautious on dating platforms before investing in forming relationships. The later section offers some recommendations for the readers on how to be vigilant before and while embarking on the journey of creating significant bonds in the world of the internet.