Are You Addicted to Online Dating?

Online dating addiction is something that is on the rise, and health professionals are reporting record numbers of addicts seeking help from them. Shrinking disposable incomes are being blamed as the major reason large numbers of online singles are becoming addicted.

Large numbers of people are switching to online dating for sex and relationships as compared to the conventional means of socializing such as bar hopping. Why? Because online dating is either dirt-cheap or 100% free, and just since people have run out of money does not mean their desire to link up has wavered. Quite the opposite in fact, Professor Buckley from Monash University and the Sex/Wellness Research Centre informs us “Our questionnaire to both our students and their family members who are aged under 28 years of age and who are single were asked whether their social behaviours had changed since the recession impacted the economy”.

Out of the 728 respondents, bars, night clubbing, private parties and social functions were regularly visited by 78% of singles under 28 years of age (14% chose online dating) as their intuitive social alternative, pre-recession. Regrettably, and with 7 million Americans out of work, blowing hundreds of dollars on a single night out on the town is merely no option.
It is also no option for our youth to end advancing their opportunities to find a partner or to find sex, and since the recession kicked in, the Internet is currently what 61% of our respondents chose it as their primary method of meeting people.

Online dating can be quite consuming. It is very easy to grow into a habit of checking your dating site for new messages numerous times a day. Thus, you turn to be a candidate for online dating addiction. A five minute scan of your new messages can so easily turn into several hours of replying to new messages, and if one of your friends sees that you are online, you can also get side tracked to live chat rooms - hang on, you were only checking your messages - five hours later!

Another big mistake online singles are making is joining many online dating sites to boost up their chances of more dates. All that happens with this scenario is that you end up saturated with all your time managing your presence on the various sites instead of employing your time diligently short-listing suitable singles on just one dating site.

People addicted to online dating need to prioritize their lives to incorporate more balance and make strict time lines when they are online, and avoid becoming preoccupied with it. Work out what you wish for. Whether you are only in it for sex or looking for romance, do not waste your precious time chatting to, and emailing other members you are engaging just for the sake of it.
You will have far more success with online dating if you are familiar with when to move on to the next person, or whether it is even worth replying to some messages at all.