Where To Meet Younger Women

Found this article that might be of interest to you all:

Dating online is so hot for Spring '06
By Tina Taus

You search and search for the elusive "one," yet you keep meeting the same creeps and jerks. Maybe you’re looking in the wrong places. Where do you meet that special someone these days?

For those with little faith in the dating game or too busy to get out and meet people, online dating is the latest trend. Toni Coleman, a relationship coach and psychotherapist specializing in online dating, said the number of people signing up for online dating is huge.

"I don't know very many singles that are younger that don't do it, especially those growing up with it," Coleman said. "With our culture and with people being so busy, for convenience of time and with the cyber-world we live in, [online dating] has become much more common.

"People are getting comfortable with putting their picture out there [on the Internet]."

As a relationship coach, Coleman helps people with their online ads. For example, she advises physicians to place ads in a manner they are comfortable with, considering their patients may use the dating website as well.

Coleman stressed online dating is no more risky than "regular" dating, saying all too often people are abused by those they date off-line. Coleman said websites have safety policies.

"They all have them... there are sites now offering background checks," she continued, adding online dating might be safer than meeting people casually on the street.

Aside from online dating, one common method for students, especially, is to avoid dating, and simply hook up instead. While people interpret the meaning of hooking up differently, it is generally a one-night stand with someone you have known for years, a few days or a few hours.

Coleman said most of the time, 'one-nighters' do not develop into relationships.

"Almost half of the people these days hook up compared to traditional dating," she said, adding 'hook-ups' seem to be common amongst older groups because people are too busy with their careers to find time to date.

"I think dating has gone out of vogue. Kids have gotten into this thing of going off into groups then splitting from those groups into couples,” Coleman said. “There is less commitment [with hooking up], no responsibility, but they get benefits. Guys especially have said they like this."

Coleman stressed the dangers that come with casual sex, calling the number of teens with STDs an epidemic. Coleman said although more teens and college students take sex lightly, she agrees that as people age this might change.

"I know it can lead to a relationship," she said, noting she knows many couples where, for them, hooking-up developed into a relationship.

How you meet people is up to you, although some may decide to leave it up to fate. Coleman noted some key qualities to a healthy relationship.

"I think in a healthy relationship there are a couple of things to look at: both have to have an equal level of commitment, both have to be ready for that commitment... also a sense of similarity is important, such as world views. Different values are a real problem."

*Check out this post, for a more detailed explanation of online dating from a pick up artist's perspective.