Laura Herrmann

The way online dating is portrayed in the media is on the one hand very positive,  that it is a very new, amazing thing/lifestyle but on the other hand for teenagers it is usually portrayed as a very dangerous place, where pedophiles and abducters just wait to abuse innocent children or specifically young woman. 

 

The truth most likely lies somwhere in between. 

 

The online dating sites themselves obviously portrey themselves as being trustworthy and reliable. This works because many people who are "single and searching" are shown to have used an online dating websites at one point in time. 

 

However especially the older generations are bewildered at the idea, that a person would fall in love with a picture in the internet and the chat that they may have. 

Usually the stigma is that one has to be very desperate to convert to the method of searching online opposed to meeting someone in real life. 

 

Personally I would not use a dating portal because I don`t believe that just because of the pictures of the happy couples which found their "true love" there is really a happy end.