With busy lives, our phones have turned into the nucleus for communication. Online dating is a new trend that seems to be taking over. Instead of meeting at a bar or through mutual friends, all you have to go off of is a profile. Online dating is a convenient way to meet people, but those meetings can be scarier. There’s no crutch of already being familiar with this person. Here are the best tips for the first date after meeting online.
Be Straightforward
What are you looking for? Don’t lead someone on if you have no intention of keeping someone around. At the same time, do not go into a situation with someone thinking that you can change them if they don’t want the same thing as you.
On your first date after meeting someone online, you want to be very honest. You don’t have to spill all of your deepest secrets but it’s important to be yourself. During a first date, you can at least gauge a sense of interest and sexual attraction. So be yourself and let the date go naturally. You will either feel it, or not, and there’s nothing wrong with not feeling the date.
Meet In Public
For your first date after meeting online, you should plan to meet in public. They might have a nice profile, but you don’t really know the person behind the screen. If you decide to go home with someone, always send your location to someone else, as well as sending a trusted friend a picture of their profile.
With a shift to online dating also comes a new phenomenon that relates to the digital world. Catfishing is probably the biggest of these and is very relevant to fears for your first date after meeting someone online. Catfishing is simply posing as someone you’re not online. This doesn’t always mean something as drastic as pretending to be a totally different person. This can also include posting pictures that don’t represent your current looks or covering up your looks. Maybe a picture from 10 years ago when you were younger or from a time when you weighed a lot less.
Read their Verbal & Nonverbal Cues
People will say what they want, but even more than that, they’ll show it. If you’re considering kissing someone on the first date, test their boundaries. Start with touching their shoulder or arm, start moving closer, or try to put your arm around them. If they move away, you have your answer, don’t go for it.
Here are some non-verbal cues to watch out for on a date:
- Eye Contact – Do they look you in the eye while you conversate?
- Closeness – Do they lean into you?
- Posture – Are they facing you? Are they closed off?
- Tongue Tied – Sometimes it’s the unsaid things that show that they’re feeling you.
- Attire – Did they dress up? They may be trying to impress you.
- Facial Expressions – When someone is genuinely reacting to something, they can’t help their facial expressions. Pay attention.
- Voice Tone – Are they engaged in your conversation? Do they sound bored?
Keep it Brief
For a first date, you usually want to keep it pretty casual. Dinner and a movie isn’t always the best move. A lot of men make the case that they don’t want to start spending a lot of money on someone until they decide if they’re truly interested. Whatever the case, the first date should give you a chance to gauge your interest.
Go get coffee or meet for drinks. This is a very low-pressure situation, and if you aren’t feeling the date or the person, you can simply end the date. There’s a lot more pressure trying to leave a date in the middle of your entree, rather than taking a cup of coffee with you. If you are enjoying the date, you can always ask to extend it!
