Disadvantages Of Online Dating

Introduction

Online dating has changed the way people look for romantic partners. With websites like match.com, okcupid and even mobile sites like tinder finding a partner is only a few clicks away. These sites make it easy for the users to change small things like height, weight and even make their profession sound better. With the rise of photoshop the the ability to find any photograph on the internet, many online daters are cautious when using the sites. “In a survey of online dating users, over 80% of participants registered concerns that others misrepresent themselves” (Gibbs, Ellison, & Heino, 2006), and, in another large-scale survey, “deception was identified as the biggest perceived disadvantage of online dating” (Brym & Lenton, 2001). This research is extremely important as a way to see why exactly people use online dating and why they attempt to self enhance or take it far enough to just be deceptive.

Review of Literature

The research surrounding lying, identity and online dating is an extremely important topic as the world continues to get

The survey took place in New York with over 400 responders which was eventually limited to 80 after the others did not meet the requirements or did not make it to the research lab. “The final sample included 80 participants (40 men, 40 women), of whom 45 (53.3%) were Match.com/MSN Match.com users, 29 (34.5%) were Yahoo! Personals users, 4 (4.8%) were Webdate users, and 2 (2.4%) were American Singles users” ( Toma, C., Hancock, J., & Ellison, N. 2008). Most users were 21-30 and there was a small sample of users 51-65. “Participants were asked to rate the accuracy of their responses on each of these profile items, including the accuracy of their profile photograph. Accuracy was defined as “the extent