8 Important Tips To Keep in Mind For Online Dating

If you’re looking for online dating advice, it can be only for two reasons – you have either just joined dating apps or are contemplating taking the plunge and getting into a relationship with someone you met online. Yes, maintaining an online relationship can be tricky. All those discouraging theories about how these relationships don’t work in the long run don’t help either.

Do online relationships work? Can you really fall in love online? How do you keep an online relationship going? It’s only natural for questions like these to weigh on your mind when you’re falling for a person who is but a virtual presence in your life.

# Communication sustains online long-distance relationships

When you’re not together, staying connected is your only recourse to nurture strong communication. For this, it is best if you rely on multiple means of interaction to keep in touch. From sharing memes on social media to texting back-and-forth on private messengers, talking on the phone and wrapping up the day with video calls. This is a great way to feel like a part of each other’s world even when you’re miles apart.

Communication is even more important in online or long-distance relationships as the physical proximity is already missing. The only way to stay in touch is through the virtual world and it’s only via communication that you can feel connected in that world.

# But don’t overdo it – Tips for online dating conversations

Set a particular time every day or on the weekends to talk to each other to make sure it’s a time when both parties are free. Especially if your relationship has a time difference, you need to be mindful of such things even more. Try things like pre-scheduled calls to not barrage your partner with phone calls or texts.

Often in long-distance relationships, couples tend to go in overdrive trying to compensate for the distance with constant communication. While this may seem charming at first, such demanding routines in a relationship can become overbearing and sticky soon. When the expectation to keep in touch starts to interfere with your daily life, discontentment and bickering can take hold.

# Get to know each other

The prime focus of your online relationship in the initial days should be on getting to know each other well. Talk about each other’s backgrounds, childhood experiences, interests, values, goals and expectations from a relationship. To really make online dating interesting, ask some fun get-to-know-me questions!

There are plenty of things to talk about. This will help you understand each other better. It will go a long way in cultivating a deep, meaningful connection even in an online relationship.

# Don’t project yourself as someone you’re not in order to make online dating interesting

This is the most indispensable piece of online dating advice if you want to be together for the long term. It is very easy to fall into the trap of always putting your best foot forward and trying to project yourself as someone you think the other person would like you to be. Don’t make such virtual dating mistakes.

This act cannot be sustained for long. When the façade falls, your relationship might crumble too. So let your partner see all of you – flaws, vulnerabilities, inhibitions and all. That’s the only way they can ever love you for you who truly are. And isn’t that the best thing about love?

# Plan dates often

Do online relationships work? Yes, as long as both partners are committed to going the extra mile to make this relationship work. An important part of this is making time for proper dates, albeit virtually. Perhaps, you can make it a ritual to share a romantic evening over the weekends.

Order the same food, pour wine, play some soulful melodies and connect on a video call. Just follow our online dating tips and you are all set. Even if you live in different time zones, you can pull this off on a Friday or Saturday night, since you can afford to sleep in late the next day.

# Participate in shared activities – online dating tips for beginners

Not being able to do stuff together is considered to be one of the biggest limitations of online long-distance relationships. Sure, you can’t go pub hopping or attend concerts together. But that doesn’t mean there are no shared activities that you can indulge in.

You can play online games together, set up virtual movie dates by screening the same movie on Netflix, watch the same shows and web series, and read the same books. This will give more common ground to connect over and help you spend quality time together as a couple.

# Establish clear boundaries

One of the more important online dating tips for beginners, remember that it is essential that you have difficult conversations if you need to. When you are in an online relationship, establishing boundaries should be the first order of business. How seriously do you both view this relationship? Are you looking for a long-term commitment? Will you be dating exclusively? You have to be on the same page about things for this to work well, at all.

Of course, these things cannot be discussed right when you start dating. But once you both become emotionally invested, you should have a conversation about the ground rules for the relationship. It’s a good idea to revisit these boundaries from time to time, as your relationship progresses.

# How do you keep an online relationship going? Be honest

Honesty is the core of any online relationship. In an online relationship, security is extremely important since partners don’t always know each other’s whereabouts or what the other person is up to. Insecurity can very easily creep into an online relationship and complete honesty is the only way to tackle that. Otherwise, because of insecurity, expect both partners to constantly act controlling, keep calling and texting one another or getting annoyed when one partner makes friend with the other sex.

Honesty is crucial for nurturing trust in your relationship. If you’re curious about how do you keep an online relationship going, know that trust is a key element in making that happen. So, always be transparent with each other. Let’s say, you have to go to a party where an ex is likely to show up.