Is Online Dating Safe?

by Peter
Posted On

Over decades and through the course of many years, something big has happened in the online dating world. There has been a shift, a new transformation from being just one of those tiny technologically inclined communities to one of those communities that many people in different societies depend on as a lifestyle. It has transformed from an evolving company with a limited number of users to a multimillion-dollar company. This begs many of its users to question these platforms’ safety.

Although many platforms have taken the time and work to ensure that their community is safe for their users, the truth is that it can only be as safe as your ability to follow some specific safety precautions. Although the platforms would keep your personal information safe, they cannot control whether you choose to or not to share your personal information in the personal messages.

Tips To Make Sure Online Dating Is Safe

When people think of starting a relationship, a lot of things come to their mind; matchmaking, joining a book club or other societies, going out more, and for some joining an online dating platform. In some cases, online dating platforms are even the first option. This is not wrong or harmful to socialization. Still, it becomes harmful to the general public and its users when precautions or certain measures are not admitted. I have deemed it important to share some online dating safety tips that must be strictly adhered to for a worthwhile experience on most online dating platforms.

Do Your Research

On online dating platforms, you come across different people coming from various spheres of life, different political, social views, and faith. Therefore, you must research the specifics of each individual’s life before you get into a relationship that might be harmful to your physical wellness and your religion, and other lifestyles. It is essential as humans to research everything we are about to get to. We research our business ideas to check their sustainability, so what keeps us from checking someone’s background presents himself or herself as a potential partner. This is not the situation where you allow people to deceive you that you might be stalking someone. It is not. It is just you taking responsibility for yourself, ensuring that you do not become matched with the wrong person.

>>Also Read: Is Tinder Safe?

Call Your Match Before The Meeting

With the fast-evolving ways of technology and the internet age, there are various ways to get in contact with unknown people without revealing your identity. Keep in mind, the entire point of online dating is to ensure that you are safe and remain careful. Therefore, you might want to be extremely careful to choose a method of communication that does not put you in a vulnerable state. Remember, the whole point of contacting the person before revealing your details is to ensure that you are safe; so be careful with even some basic contact. Potential dates or matches can be contacted using platforms such as skype, google hangouts, zoom, and even face time.

Apart from helping your safety, they also decrease the probability that you might get catfished by another user. This directly means another person representing themselves as what they are not.

Drive Yourself To The Location

Another mistake some people make on their first dates, especially those met online, is to allow the other user to pick them up for the date. Avoid depending on the other person, especially when they suggest you carpool to the location. This is advisable because of unforeseen circumstances and situations that might come up during the date. With your vehicle, you have as much control of the date’s location as the other person; there is no upper hand over the other user.

Meet At a Public Location

Meeting someone for the first time after chatting on an online dating app? Then it should not even come as an option to you that you meet them in a private area or their homes. When meeting someone from an online dating platform, you definitely should not meet in a private location. This way if there is something wrong people are nearby can help you. You must be acquainted with one another in a public place because of the many differences and misunderstandings that exist in different lifestyles. Therefore, all matches should meet in public places irrespective of the many safety guidelines each platform might seem to offer.

Share the Details Of The Date With Your Family and Friends

Before you meet someone from an online dating platform for the first time, make sure that you inform a friend or close family member of the date’s details, such as the location, details of the person, and the time you are expected to return from the date. You should have established a way to remain in contact with them through your date by holding on to your mobile phones at all times or sharing your location with them.

Someone close to you, a sibling or close friend, should be informed of your date to avoid stories that touch. Share every detail like the place, the person, and even the time. This is to ensure your safety and ensure that nothing goes wrong with you or your date.

Protect Your Personal and Financial Information

Your personal information should remain personal and not publicly shared. When online dating, never reveal personal information such as your credit card information, social security number, or any other banking or financial information. Apart from not including it on your profile (duh), refrain from sharing these details with anyone who asks for them on these platforms. Also, except necessary or essential to you, avoid sharing definitive information such as your full name, your phone number, your relatives, your workplace, and your home address. For your safety and protection, you should only give this sort of information to another user you are comfortable with. Never disclose too much information with another user even if you plan to go on a date because you could never be sure of their identity.

Do not give out every single detail about yourself to the person you are going on a date with. Do not give out the places you usually visit, your family members’ details, or even your birth date too quickly. Be careful of the information you share. Once you get to know each other and you become more comfortable with the person you are going on a date with, then you can start giving out information about yourself little by little. Do not overdo it and if you are not sure that you should give out something, don’t.

>>Also Read: Red Flags To Look For In Tinder Profiles