Popular YouTuber Shane Dawson has struck the YouTube community with yet another conspiracy video, along with a serious warning to us all about the dangers of online dating. In today’s world, the dating scene for young adults revolves around the use of different social media platforms and apps to meet people. But what exactly are the dangers of online dating?
1. The possibility of being catfished
Many people will go about online dating the wrong way and will significantly alter their profile picture. Sometimes this is in the form of them using outdated pictures or choosing questionable model-like pictures offline. This is often done to get a foot in the door. It’s easy to manipulate things about your life to fit the mold others are looking for. Whether it be height, hair color, accents or even lifestyle traits such as career choices.
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2. Possible ulterior motives for wanting to be with you
They could go through significant sudden life changes after dating you. Things conveniently change in their lifestyle, such as losing their job. By doing this, they are sucking you in by making you pity them and eventually they become solely dependent on you. These little things will begin to add up and become larger requests after a while. At first, it will start off with the simple ‘I forgot my wallet, can you pay for lunch this time?’ to ‘I was fired and can’t afford to fix my car, can you pay for all the repairs until I get a new job?’
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3. Possibility they go through a drastic personality change
There’s always a chance they are putting on an act through talking online. Plenty of people are skilled at manipulating emotions and tricking others into believing their lies. Once they believe they have completely caught someone’s full attention they could start becoming extremely clingy, restrictive, and mean towards you. You have to keep in mind that you can’t always perceive someone’s exact personality in person let alone through a screen.
4. They could be dangerous
Not everyone you meet online is going to be trustworthy. There have been many cases in the news of individuals being kidnapped or even fatally attacked because they severely underestimate who they were meeting up with. Never think you’re invincible, that’s the most dangerous thing you could possibly do.
While it sounds paranoid to always assume the worst, it never hurts to be too careful. People like to believe that almost everyone is using online dating for its intended purposes, but times are evolving and so should your knowledge of how to stay safe.