Precautions To Take Before You Meet Your Online Date
By Ashley Kromrey
Remember when we used to flirt with a crush and the wonder that, if by some miracle, they felt the same way too? Online dating has replaced the days of, well, meeting anyone in person. It’s a big scary world out there; secret admirers have now comically turned into social media stalkers. Some women go on dates for the juicy conversation and mediocre steak. Men have 37 missed text messages from a “crazy” girl. It’s actually becoming a challenge to meet someone face to face, as online dating profiles prove to be more deceptive as ever. It’s flat out frightening to think that the 
person you swiped, poses a potential risk of not being who they paint a picture to be. There’s a fine line between presenting your best self and twisting your identity completely. Hell, it’s so common MTV made a complete series about it. Survey says, there are qualms both men and women share on initial date night. Calm your date night jitters, with our precautions to take before you meet your online date.
One deal-breaker that both sexes can agree on is that the attractive person in the photos, often does not match their “real life” stats. When meeting their crush for the first time, everyone expects to meet the body type that was advertised. A solution to avoiding this situation is to nonchalantly request your crush send a selfie. It is appropriate in that flirty, butterfly beginning stage. Make sure you send one yourself to be fair. By sharing a photo it also heightens the anticipation leading up to date night, and if not, your inner cynic will be thrilled about that gas money you saved by not following through with the date.
Texting is a great medium to take your newfound connection off the dating site. The only real benefit texting allows however, is for facts to be gathered (i.e. where do you work or what do you do for fun?). It rarely gives either party any insight on possible chemistry or a personality match. Texting can even endanger future conversations. For instance, if one person has a very dry sense of humor and the other has none, consider it a grenade in your texting foxhole. Remember, we can dream up the perfect person, based on how we interpret text, because texting is totally our interpretation of what the words mean.
Remember, that the phone still works to call people. Calling should be used more commonly to get to know someone, before a date, it can tell so much about a person, and sniff out any foul play on the spot.60 percent of all human communication is nonverbal —body language. Another 30 percent is your tone (thank you Hitch). It’s not old-fashioned for a man to call a woman, in fact it shows confidence, time dedication, and ultimately, strong interest. Ladies, asking a man to call shows them that you are not about to waste your sweet precious time. If your date is a super hottie, you’ll learn rather quickly if the potential suitor will measure up beyond his looks. Try this, keep it short and simple by speaking between tasks, like before the gym for example. This way if you’re not into them, you will not offend them by ending the call. After a call, it’s easy to move back to texting, because now you can place a personality and voice tone to the face, to better interpret future conversation with your crush.
Avoid those dreaded date nights where you have to put on your best charismatic, happy face. No one wants to sit across from someone you know has no second date potential.
About the Author/s
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.
