People can portray themselves as however they want to. I think the best tip I have for that is just be yourself and to just don't fake like who you are. If someone doesn't like you for who you are then they don't matter. I think eventually you'll find someone that accepts you for who you are and so don't try to fake it online because too many people do that and it's just it's not reality.
I think this one is pretty obvious but never let someone pick you up from your place if you've met them online. So for example if you go on a first date with someone that you met through a dating app, meet in a public setting and drive yourself there just so that you're safe and I would also just make sure to tell your roommates or your family or whoever you live with where you're going to be that evening just to make sure you are safe.
Number one I'd say for a dating tip is just if it's online do not tell them your address. Just say let's meet at a public place like don't go on a hike or anything like that and just meet at like an ice cream shop somewhere public somewhere lit and where there's people.
I'm sure a lot of the ladies are hearing and have heard this before but some online dating tips are plain and simple. We don't want this, okay? We don't care about that. We just want to know what you look like. A lot of catfishing out there. A lot of girls use filters. Stop using the filters. Be genuine. Be who you are. We're gonna eventually see you without your makeup, without using your filters. So don't try to trap us in that and then be mad because we're into your friends or your besties or whoever you're with in a group picture.
Hey, my name is Nat and I met my wife on a dating app. So I'd say the best thing to do is to move that online connection to offline real world as fast as possible. There's just way too much that gets lost between the screens or as you're texting each other. So my opening line was always something like, hey, you want to share a pizza or get some ice cream together? So it was demonstrating that I want to get together. It's a real concrete kind of low key thing. So make it fast, the connection in real life fast, and then keep it simple, like not a big extravagant date. Pretend like you just ran across someone in the grocery store and wanted to take them out, or you saw them on the other side of a restaurant and said, hey, let's sit down and share a drink together. Keep it very light and simple. And if you're going to do it online because you live far apart, then same thing. Like, hey, let's jump on Zoom for 15 minutes, share a coffee, or let's jump on Zoom and talk as we eat our lunch today. So short and move it to a live interaction as fast as possible.
I think it's amazing, I know so many people that have found their partner through dating apps, but I think something that's really important safety-wise is to meet in a public location where you know there's going to be a lot of people around or even doing a double date. I think that people are great and there's also some people that are not great online and I think that it's really important to keep safety in mind and that way you can enjoy your date knowing that you're safe and that you can just really be yourself.
I've, you know, interacted a lot with people, you know, using dating apps, and I've used them, you know, for a while, and I feel like there's no, like, one right way to make your profile, but all your pictures should be of you, and your, I'd say your first picture should clearly show your face, and there should be one picture clearly showing your entire, like, figure, right? And then the rest, whatever, but as long as you have those two, I think everybody's going to be cool with that. Second, I would try not to represent a bad attitude in any of your, like, your bio or whatever.
Be extra picky whenever you are looking through other profiles, like look at all their pictures, read their entire bio, don't just accept people right off the bat. Another thing too is just to be extra safe when you're setting up a first date from an online dating app. Make sure people know where you're going, put it in a public place. If you can, have people go with you, like make it not just a one-on-one date, make it a group date, just so that you can be safe and make sure that you're not going to end up in a bad situation.
If you're gonna do it, do it well. Like, all the pictures you post, have them be quality. Describe yourself. I just don't think it's worth it to, like, have hardly any information up in there. I think that's just really dumb. But, I think if you're going to do it, still try. Like, don't have that be the only way you're, like, trying to get a date. Just, like, have it be a way that you're, like, kind of showing Heavenly Father that, like, I'm trying. And keep trying.
If you're going to go on a date with someone that you don't know, it's probably a good idea to go somewhere public and to not have them drive you for safety purposes.
So my freshman year of college, I did my fair share of online dating. It was during COVID, so there wasn't really a lot of other ways to meet boys besides online dating. Something that I did with my friends is I had my location on whenever I went on a date. I shared my location with them so they always knew where I was. We had a code word that I could just text or call them and they could come pick me up. I always told them where I was going. I don't think there was ever a time that I didn't tell them where I was going. I always tried to meet someone in a public place for the first time so that I didn't get myself into scary situations.
I think online dating is awesome, but I think you need to be really careful just to make sure you're being safe, so I think just like making sure that every date from like mutual or hinge or whatever online platform that you go on, you have a trusted friend or family member who knows where you're gonna be. This could be like sharing your location with them or even just saying like, hey we're gonna be at this place at this time, so please like check up on me. I think that's really important just to stay safe because you don't really know people from an online interaction, but I think it's so awesome that that's an option now for dating.
Well, me and my wife, we had a long distance relationship. I was here at the U.S. studying while she was in Peru, studying and working as well. A tip that I could give you is keep in contact. Try to make something that it is really valuable for her. For example, there was like a party in Peru that I couldn't go because I was here, but it was an important party like for the February. And yeah, so what I did is I asked one of my friends to buy flowers and put it somewhere, like hide it. And I would call her and I would let her know where I have the gift, like a gift for her. And that was something that really touched her. And she knew I loved her and I was there, even though I wasn't.