by Mandy Kloppers

Created on: September 24, 2009   Last Updated: September 25, 2009

Internet Dating:

Internet dating is still a fairly recent concept in the grand scheme of things and there doesn't seem to be too much reliable data on the actual success rates. One thing I know is that I have noticed all the same old faces when I have logged back in to my old Internet dating account. It seems to me that Internet dating is encouraging a population of serial daters and leaving little to report on the relationship-longevity stakes.

Be very careful when deciding to meet people through the Internet. On the one hand it is undeniably useful for meeting people you wouldn't normally come into contact with during your normal day-to-day activities.It does open up all sorts of opportunities but not every one is on the same 'playing field'. Many people using Internet dating sites have different agendas.

Some are truly looking for someone to love, someone to settle down with and want to get off the dating scene as soon as possible. Others are looking for something more casual or an ego boost and will 'string you along' until they are bored or worse still, they end up being commitment phobic or heavens forbid "emotionally unavailable".

Then there's the addiction of Internet dating and the inevitable mindset that creeps in. More choice leads to higher expectations. After being on the Internet looking to find someone for a fair length of time (from as early as one month) the seemingly never ending choice of partners creates and fosters, in my opinion, a fussier attitude.

Match.com recently conducted a survey and even they admit that approximately 40% of men and 60% of women are fussier today than they were a year ago.

I recently read a very interesting book by Barry Schwartz called "The Paradox of Choice" and I enjoyed the following example of how too much choice will make us fussier:

What contributes to high expectations, above and beyond the quality of past experience, is, I think, the amount of choice and control we now have over most aspects of our lives. When I was away on vacation a few years ago in a tiny seaside town on the Oregon coast, I went into the small local grocery store to buy some ingredients for dinner. When it came to buying wine, they had about a dozen options. What I got wasn't very good, but I didn't expect to be able to get something very good, and so I was satisfied with what I got. If instead I'd been shopping in a store that offered hundreds, even thousands of options, my expectations would have been a good deal higher. Had I ended

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