Define Your Purpose for Using Online Dating Tools
When it comes to the world of online dating, there are two major groups of people that you can differentiate:
- those who are there to date,
- and those who are there for hookups.
.
Sometimes these categories happen to overlap, but it’s not too frequent.
Both categories are equally justified, but the most important thing you need to do is clearly define what you’re looking for in online dating before you make any profiles or choose any platforms.
Generally speaking, dating is defined as any kind of committed relationship. It doesn’t have to mean anything too serious, but it certainly involves frequent meeting and hanging out.
Dating is fairly broad because it can mean anything from a short, month long relationship up to something as long as marriage. The people you’re looking for if you’re interested in dating should be those that you really click with when it comes to their personalities.
Hookups are much different than dating, and it’s a strange kind of culture that’s still fairly new. Hookups essentially involve one or two offhanded meetups, usually involving sexual relations.
The people who hook up rarely contact one another afterwards, if ever, and if they do, it’s typically just to hook up again. This kind of relationship is certainly unorthodox, but it’s becoming increasingly popular among young adults.
When you’re trying to clearly convey your purpose on a dating website, you have to be a bit crafty about it. It’s a bit strange to come across a profile that says “looking for someone to date” or “looking for hookups,” and you probably won’t get nearly as many matches.
Instead, it’s more common and accepted to say something like “here just for fun” if you’re interested in hookups. This doesn’t come across nearly as blunt, but your message is still fairly clear.
The reason it’s so important to clearly define what you’re looking for out of a relationship from an online dating service is that you want to avoid confusion as much as possible. It’s already somewhat difficult to communicate thoughts clearly over just text, so when you add in the factor of whether you want a relationship or a hookup, things can get awkward.
If, for example, you met up with someone you met online hoping for a hookup, but they were expecting the start of a relationship, things would get uncomfortable very quickly, and neither of you would have a good time.