All posts by Mika Johnson I’ve been reading a lot about online dating these days. From conversations I’ve had with different friends to reviews I’ve read in various places, it’s pretty obvious that online dating is a very big thing. I myself have never tried online dating, but from what I’ve heard and read I believe it’s not for me. I’m a big believer in chemistry. I believe in finding someone who is like minded and with whom you can forge a good bond. You will find a lot of articles out there proclaiming the best way to find love is online dating. I don’t believe that at all. Here are 5 reasons why. #1. Most dating sites are a real pain to navigate. Most dating sites are incredibly annoying to navigate and use. Sure, it might not seem annoying at first, but if you’re looking for love it’s a pain in the butt to get information about someone. Most dating sites don’t really tell you a whole lot about someone. If I wanted to get to know someone I’d ask them for more information. #2. Dating sites are full of scammers. While most dating sites claim to be there to help you find love, they’re really there to find information on you and take that information and use it to scam you for money. Most of them are not regulated so they can tell you that they’re safe. And that may be true, but most people would be surprised to find out how many people have had their identities stolen and used illegally to scam innocent people out of money. On the other hand, there are great sites. I’m currently single and it’s not difficult at all to find potential dates. Most people are on these sites not just to find a date, but to find someone they have a great connection with, too. #3. It’s difficult to tell who’s being truthful and who’s not. So when someone says, “I have a PhD in Economics,” I would wonder what kind of an economics PhD that was. I might not know the right questions to ask but as you’ve seen I’ve got a PhD and I still can’t answer this question. That’s because I’m not a trained economist so I have to rely on someone else to do that for me. I know someone who has never even studied economics can provide me with a really good perspective on economics and how it relates to things. I think the same goes for love. Who knows for sure who to trust and who is lying. Sure, you can try to find out with basic information like “how old are you” but this can be a great opportunity for scammers to get their information. #4. It’s hard to find the right partner for you. I believe that everyone has chemistry with at least one person and that’s it. Sure, there might be a connection there with a friend, but with another person? It’s never quite like it is with your best friend. No matter what you say or do, if chemistry isn’t there you will know it. When I fall in love with someone I want to know that he loves me back. #5. You can find your match anywhere. Even in the real world you can easily meet people who interest you but that don’t pass the chemistry test. Sure, there are great online dating sites that provide tools to help you find that one person who is your match, but there is more than one way to get there. If I know that someone out there is my match then I might try a bar or go to the gym or any other number of ways to find that person. You can’t tell me online dating is the only way. Now that I’ve looked at the good and the bad, I don’t think online dating is for me, but there are a lot of positives to dating sites like Tinder and Bumble. I’ve always liked the Tinder app. I’m not really interested in online dating in general, but I will say I have tried the Tinder app and it’s fun to play around with it. Some people will say online dating apps are good for people who don’t like bars or people who aren’t good at meeting someone socially. I think that may be true, but even if you’re new to a city you can take the time to go to a bar or coffee shop and find someone who interests you. But then I discovered that I could use Tinder not just in the real world, but also through Instagram. And when I used it through my Instagram account it really seemed to be great. I found a girl who seemed really cool and really liked what I was reading on my Instagram profile. But then I would tell her she was interesting and she would try to make the connection but the connection never worked. When I realized this, I would tell her she was beautiful and her message would get deleted. At first it seemed like a scam and I thought that I was being gamed and scammed, but then I would ask my Twitter friends if they thought this person could be genuine. They would tell me she seemed pretty genuine to them and after a while I came to realize that it wasn’t a scam, but an Instagram celebrity. The more I discovered about online dating apps and other online dating sites the more I realized they’re just not for me. But then I had an interesting experience with Tinder. I’ve talked about how you can use Tinder and other dating apps by liking and commenting on other people’s photos. So when I liked her photo she sent me a message that she had a really good sense of humor and I sent her a message back and told her I appreciated it. She asked me if I was gay, and I told her that wasn’t why I liked her and that maybe I would look at her pictures again. I felt bad because it was obvious that she thought I was gay because of the pictures I had sent her. After a while I started messaging her more frequently and she would message me asking about “where my kids were and what I did and that kind of stuff.” Her messages started to creep me out a bit. I know it sounds kind of gross to be creeped out by someone, but I feel like if you’re going to message someone you should show interest in them as well. And I had no interest in her in the first place and I felt a bit creeped out by her messages. Eventually she left me alone and I saw her on Tinder again a few days later. I felt kind of bad, but she never messaged me again so it seemed like the end of it. As I look back on the whole experience I can see why it was interesting. I used Tinder for Instagram but I didn’t send her any pictures of my Instagram profile. Instead, I used it to find someone with great style and sent her images from other people. I wanted to find an Instagram celebrity to talk about with my friends. I don’t do Instagram for a living so I don’t even bother with it. So, I guess I was kind of obsessed with finding an Instagram celebrity, but I didn’t find one at all. If you use Instagram and want to learn how to use it to your benefit for online dating, please click the link below: While it doesn’t seem to be a big thing, I was recently asked by a reader how online dating is going and how many women I’m actually meeting online. I’ll admit that online dating can be tricky at times, especially when you’re looking for a relationship. With online dating you’re likely to meet a lot of fake profiles and scammers. I think I may have come up with the perfect solution to avoid this! I’ve decided to create a list of my top 5 tips for finding someone online. 1. Go beyond the profile. If you look at my profile I really like to find out about a person before I decide to meet them. I always ask for a picture of them and a brief description of who they are and what they do. And if someone doesn’t have a profile at all or doesn’t write a little bit of about themselves I’m not interested. I always let people know that I don’t allow my profile to be full of ads or links. I always make sure to tell people what I’m looking for in a relationship. The only time I might consider meeting someone without a profile is when we are really good friends and have met face-to-face. 2. Have confidence in your search process. I only believe that I have chemistry with people I really like and have had a long conversation with them first. If someone doesn’t have a profile at all then I won’t even try and message them. If they are using fake photos I’m not interested, and if they don’t write anything about themselves I’m not interested. 3. Keep an open mind about the process. I do know that things happen and people find other people that they want to date but it’s best to not think about this while you’re looking. Sure, if you meet someone who you really like, your feelings might be hurt, but it’s likely you’re not thinking about them when you’re on dating sites. I