The Cons of Online Dating Essay Example

The current advances in technology have transformed individual lives including the process of accessing potential partners. Online dating sites provide an individual with the opportunity to meet a high number of potential candidates. The truth is quantity does not match the quality since some of the individuals using dating sites are not serious, others are criminals, and still, others are scammers. Therefore, the use of dating sites introduces significant safety issues; it increases the chance of losing money to unknown people or even getting frustrated.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The use of dating sites exposes an individual to meet people who are not serious with relationships. The dating sites offer a subscription service and daters are interested in making the best out their money. The availability of a high number of potential daters makes it difficult for people to choose a loved one (Eschbach). Online daters set high expectations about a perfect match, and they have to date several people with the aim of determining the best. An individual with the hopes of a lasting relationship ends up getting disappointed when a potential partner cuts off communication after the first date. An individual realizes the gap between the reality and the expectations after their hopes get shattered.

Online dating is dangerous since it leads to significant safety issues that may affect an individual ability to continue their healthy lives. Some of the dating sites have lenient data privacy policies making it easy for an individual to monitor and individual through the unsecured data connection. Others access the username and messages and get information about the sites that an individual visit thus increasing the chances of hacking of a different social media and personal accounts with the aim of committing fraud. Daters are likely to share personal information including their source of income and their home address that makes them an easy target to robbers. Other online daters have fallen victims of sex trafficking after offers of luring packages such as job promises, instant love, and willingness of their potential partners to incur travelling expenses (Fox26). Daters and especially women have fallen victims of stalking and harassment on the first date after meeting people despite lack of awareness about their violent character.

Dating sites make it easy for an individual to fall victim of scammers and catfishing. Members to online dating platforms upload incorrect profiles. They fake details about their gender, education, marriage, and income. Scammers create false profiles with the aim of targeting a particular individual for an associated financial gain. Catfishing is a common fraud in online dating platforms where daters do their best to earn the trust of honest people, and they later ask for money from them (Dilly). The scammers prey on desperate individuals including the lonely, middle-aged men and women. Scammers have varied motivations with some of them intending to satisfy their curiosity about the targeted individual. After spending weeks spying on an individual profile, scammers eventually claim to be offering certain services. Still, others call arguing that they can help in a medical or a travel emergency only to disappear after the innocent individual sends them money. The practice of blackmailing is common where scammers aim at getting sensitive information about members of the dating platform. They after that demand payment in exchange for not revealing sensitive and personal information.

Conclusion

Typically, dating sites are used by desperate individuals and those who have very high expectations about their perfect match, and they feel that the conventional dating methods might not work for them. Scammers, sex traffickers, and ill-willed individuals are aware of the nature of honest people and their expectations. Therefore, the scammers wait until they win the trust of desperate people and get information about their personal lives. They later utilize personal information to blackmail, and they fulfil their ulterior motives.

Works Cited

Dilly, John. 'How Expensive Are Catfishing Scams? See Where Your State Ranks.' HighSpeedInternet.com, 2013. http://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/states-with-most-catfishing-scams/.

Eschbach, Kara. ''It's Time to Change the Way You Think About Online Dating.''. Verily, 2014. https://verilymag.com/2014/12/dating-tips-online-dating-relationships.

Fox26. Dating Apps Being Used for Prostitution, Sex Trafficking. 2018. Retrieved from http://www.fox26houston.com/news/the-isiah-factor/dating-apps-being-used-for-prostitution-sex-trafficking.