How to Stay Safe When Online Dating During The Holidays

It is true that during holiday times we tend to be in need of a warm, close relationship with others because people traditionally spend holidays surrounded by family members.

In many cultures, being alone on Christmas and New Year’s Eve is considered to be a bad omen, inevitably predicting that the year ahead will be filled with loneliness and sadness.

Often, this superstition is so deeply ingrained in people’s minds that they seek any type of company during the holiday lest they feel lonely for the rest of the year.

But even if they do not believe in this portent of evil, people still do not want to be excluded from general festivities and look for friends with whom they can celebrate Christmas and the turn of the New Year. With the growing popularity of dating websites, finding a partner who can share your celebratory mood on holidays has become easier, since so many people out there advertise themselves as available for building connections with others.

Tinder is an application that is most in demand for meeting purposes on Christmas thanks to its light agenda and easy, user-friendly technology. More and more people turn to Tinder seeking companionship during this holiday season.  

And yet, as we have already learned from our friends and stories told through various media channels, befriending people on Tinder, or any other dating website for that matter, can come at a price as people get themselves involved with strangers.

Far from appearing in life as decent and pleasant as on their posted photos, some of these strangers might prove to be emotionally disturbed, violent, and downright villainous.

Coming across such individuals might have grave and even fatal consequences for your well-being or at least your holiday festivities. You certainly do not want to ruin your Christmas by hooking up with the wrong people.

To protect yourself from various dating disasters, you should first and foremost do a background check of your prospective date before you meet him or her face-to-face. 

One of the most appealing features of Tinder is that it links your profile to your Facebook page, thus allowing you to see if your date and you have the same friends.

Some of your shared friends may put in a good word for the person in question. Or, on the contrary, dissuade you from going to a meeting altogether.

You might also gather additional facts about your date from LinkedIn and Google or other social media channels. Although this is not always the case, because some people might be genuinely uninterested in advertising themselves on social media channels, a lack of available information about your date might look dodgy, so might only one picture.

What Types of People to Avoid When Dating Online

As a good rule of thumb, do not agree to meet people who are excessively discreet on dating websites. They might have reasons to hide their identities.   

It is also advisable to have a telephone or Skype conversation with your Tinder match before you arrange a meeting in person. Someone’s voice, manner of talking, and, most importantly, vocabulary may speak volumes about his or her cultural background, upbringing, and education.

When we speak to people, we pigeonhole them more easily than we do when we look at their best pictures on dating websites.

By talking on the phone, we can thus more accurately understand if we will get along with each other in real life. You can also guess from your telephone conversation if your match is being sincere and generally nice.

Should your telephone communication go badly, take it as a clear sign that you have to cancel the meeting. No dazzling appearance of your date will compensate for a feeling of discomfort his or her words evoke in you. 

Choose public places

Another important rule of Tinder dating is to meet in a public place.

Arrange your meeting in a coffee shop, pub, restaurant, or, if you prefer less traditional pastimes, in a bowling center or a park.

Under no circumstances should you meet your date in unknown, remote, and solitary quarters, especially late in the evening.

Not knowing yet what to expect from your new acquittance, you do not want to be where nobody would help you, if you need to be protected from his or her unwelcome advances.

It is also a good idea to take care of your transportation, arriving to your meeting place either in your own car or a taxi. 

You do not need to ask anybody’s favor to take you back home, especially if your date goes wrong. Nor would you want to show everyone you meet on Tinder where you live. After all, some people may turn out to be stalkers and continue bothering you long after all your memories of your encounters with them have faded. 

Tell others about the date

What is also crucial for your safety is not to make a secret of your date.

It might feel very romantic to steal away from your house in silence, but in our times, dating often becomes an unpleasant, even dangerous experience against which you protect yourself precisely by publicizing it to your friends and family.

Before you leave, inform others where exactly you meet the person from Tinder. Showing your match’s pictures to your friends will also help to track him or her down, if you are endangered.

And always have an escape route in mind, when you date anyone sight unseen.   

Being in a good company during the holiday season is highly desirable. No one deserves to be deprived of merriment and happiness on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Yet it is still important to select your companions with care lest your merry-making ends up in disaster that you will remember the whole year.