What Are the Advantages & Disadvantages of a Virtual Love Relationship?

In the age of the Internet to a large extent, meeting someone online has become a normal trend in love relationships. Two individuals meet in cyberspace, like what they read about each other, and start corresponding with one another. Virtual love relationships have advantages and disadvantages. You might meet the person of your dreams online and have a long-lasting relationship. Alternatively, things may go well for as long as you keep writing and talking by telephone to each other. But when you actually meet, you may find little or no common ground to sustain the relationship.

As online or virtual relationships entail writing e-mails to each other, two people get the opportunity to bond mentally. There is plenty of opportunity to get to know one another in a deeper and more meaningful way, without the physical connection. To become friends first, who can discuss most anything, lays the foundation for a solid relationship. Through writing and telephone conversations, which are the main mediums of communication in virtual relationships, people have the opportunity to be themselves, to be honest and forthcoming with information. There is more opportunity to share a great deal of information and to really talk to one another.

Virtual relationships allow individuals to make contact with other people from the comfort of home. This means people are relaxed, less anxious about making a good impression and don't have to stress on whether they are wearing the right clothes or not. When there is no anxiety involved, it is easier to be yourself and take the time to compose e-mails that make a good first impression. In an online relationship, it is possible to test the waters and see if there is a genuine expression of interest in who you really are.

Virtual relationships are formed through online contact, and people don't get to physically meet for a while, longer if people live in different states or countries. It is easy enough for people to conceal their true identity. Online dating sites require information on age, gender, username and address. There are specific questions that need to be answered to build a profile. There is no guarantee that people are who they say they are in the profile. Anyone can claim to be single, a doctor or a widower whose wife died in a tragic accident. It is difficult to verify these claims, and the Internet makes it easy for people to deceive.

In a virtual love relationship, people can get carried away with the idea of finding love and end up disclosing confidential information to a virtual stranger. Cyber world has its share of scammers, and people do use the Internet to scam other people. Running a background check is probably the only way to find out whether a person has a criminal record for fraud, is a stalker or even a murderer. There are people who troll dating sites looking for victims to take advantage of financially. People who are lonely and eager to find love may become victims of scams that include requests to buy plane tickets or little loans to tide the person over till the next paycheck.