Who uses internet dating?

Internet dating got its start on the BBS system, a series of internet bulletin boards where people would gather and post their thoughts on various topics. Many of the boards were geared towards sex and fetishes and eventually people developed friendships with each other as they saw the same people posting over and over, and finally, two people from the same board got together and internet dating was born. The people who were most familiar with the BBS system were technologically savvy and back in the 80's, often time considered to be "computer nerds." That is how internet dating got its initial stigma of being for people who can't find a date anywhere else.

Those days are past. In large part to companies like AOL and Lycos who helped bring the internet into the mainstream and with it helped people to begin the evolution into a more computer based society. In my job as an internet dating consultant I have worked with several hundred people to increase their internet dating success, only four or five of them have been the traditional "computer nerd" or losers that can't find a date anywhere else. The average internet dater has at least an associates degree, but more often than not has a B.A. or even a graduate degree. I have found that the split of internet daters between men and women is just about even, and the age groups range everywhere from 18 all the way up to 87, but the fastest growing group right now is men and women ages 35-55. Another really interesting fact about today's internet dater is that regardless of gender, age, or race the majority of serious internet daters earn at least 50K per year.

Internet dating is happy hour for people who don't feel like going to the meat market that most bars have become. Internet dating is a convenient and relatively safe (when done properly) way for anyone to explore their options in a time where we have been programmed to think that we need to have an unlimited amount of choices. Anyone who can read and has access to the internet can try it and most of the sites out there are free.

More Reading:
What is Online Dating?
Advantages of Online Personals?
My Online Dating Service didn't work!
The Passive Dater vs The Active Dater