Over the past few years, online dating has not only become more socially acceptable, but a more popular way of meeting potential mates. A new report from the Pew Research Center reveals that about 23 percent of singles who meet their partners online end up marrying them.
With one in ten Americans currently using dating websites and apps to look for love, dubbed "online daters" by the researchers, general public attitudes towards the practice have become increasingly positive in recent years, as it is no longer being thought of as a last resort. In addition, 66 percent of online daters have gone out with someone they met online this year, in contrast with just 43 of online daters polled by researchers in 2005.
While younger people are more likely to date online, there is no age limit when it comes to the trend, with 22 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds and 17 percent of 35 to 44-year-olds currently looking for a potential partner via a dating site or app, and 11 percent of all internet users have admitted to using one.
And for the first time this year, researchers asked survey participants whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the statement, "online dating keeps people from settling down because they always have options for people to date," and 32 percent agreed. In addition, 59 percent of participants agreed that online dating is "a good way to meet people," as compared to the 44 percent who agreed with this statement in 2005.
The survey also revealed that 29 percent of Americans know someone that has met their spouse or long-term partner through online dating.
However, despite increasingly positive results, online dating has its downsides as well. Over half of online daters (54 percent) reported feeling "that someone else seriously misrepresented themselves in their profile," while 28 percent "have been contacted by someone through an online dating site or app in a way that made them feel harassed or uncomfortable," with women much more likely to have this experience, at 42 percent of women as compared with just 17 percent of men.
"Some six percent of internet users who are in a marriage, partnership, or other committed relationship met their partner online," the researchers wrote. "That is up from three percent of internet users who said this in 2005. On an 'all-adults' basis, that means that five percent of all committed relationships in America today began online."
Popular online dating sites and apps include eHarmony, Match.com, Okcupid, all of which use algorithms as "matching strategies" to pair together potential partners.
