The Ugly Truth About Dating Websites

Afew months after divorcing my first husband, I foolishly signed up for an online dating site. I had just been left by my high-school sweetheart, and I was nowhere near ready for another relationship. Part of it was my jealousy that he had moved on with the woman he cheated with while I was completely and utterly alone with a broken heart. This was back in the early 2000s, when dating online was fairly new. There didn’t seem to be as many scammers and bots yet, just a bunch of strangers looking for love on their computers.

I made the mistake of going on a few dates during that time. I’d meet somebody for dinner or drinks, and then I’d immediately stop answering their messages. One of the men told me he wanted to marry me after three dates. The whole concept of a real relationship was way too scary, even though I couldn’t stand being divorced either. Truth be told, my online adventure eventually led to my second marriage. At first, I thought the guy was funny and smart, and his messages always made me laugh. However, it didn’t take long after the wedding for him to turn abusive and cruel. I’m sure I wouldn’t have found him so funny had I known he had serious psychopathic issues. It took me years to get free of him, even after we divorced. Sometimes, I wonder if I would have picked up on how evil he was if we had first met in person and not on the internet. Of course, if I’d known, I never would have gone out with him in the first place. Once it was over, I never used online dating again. These days, I really dislike the whole concept of online dating. I know there are some people who found their true love on a website and are now happily married, but I really think those sites do a great disservice to people most of the time. The whole experience I had turned me off to using them, but I think it’s dangerous in more ways than one. When people use these dating sites, their first experience with a potential match is through swiping and messaging. In those messages, a person can create themselves into whatever they want to be. They can make themselves richer, thinner and better looking. They use their most flattering picture…