Online Dating Websites and Seniors
Dating for seniors is a totally different ball game. There aren’t a lot of dance clubs aimed at the senior set. It can be challenging to find new ways to meet people. While there are some senior activity centers, not all seniors feel comfortable there. Some seniors still feel young at heart and don’t want to feel like “hanging with old people”, even though their ages may match, they may feel their mentality doesn’t.
There are now online dating services that offer seniors a way to connect. The online dating revolution has changed the way that people can meet. You have the option of being connected to thousands of people that you didn’t know existed! There are many different services to choose such as Match.com, Date.com and E-Harmony.
E-Harmony offers a very detailed survey that you fill out. It uses this survey to match compatibilities between their clients. The survey for this company was very thorough and took quite a bit of time to fill out. You will not just jot down a two minute survey here! After filling out your survey, the site matches you with people who are compatible with you. They send you a list of people, on our first day we were sent 12 matches. You then read through the profiles sent to you and if you are interested in communicating you send five multiple questiosn that the other person answers. It is then their turn to send you five questions. After this step, you ask open ended questions, and again they get a turn to ask you a few open ended questions as well. Each person has set a profile of things they absolutely want or need in a relationship, such as honesty, good sense of humor, and so forth. There are also choices of can’t stands such as cheating, poor hygiene. It is a slow process, but is very detailed.
Date.com or Matchmaker.com offers a shorter survey and does not match you with people unless you ask them to. You can browse through the profiles and select to show somebody you are interested by sending them communications. You communicate through the site directly and not through your personal email. You can create a profile free, but until you pay their monthly fee you won’t be able to access the communications. We found that there were quite a bit of people looking for “non-committed” relationships as well as committed ones. People looking for a more serious longterm relationship might want to invest time filling out E-Harmony’s profile.
One senior woman in her sixties tried two of these services. I personally met my husband through Matchmaker. We have been together blissfully for close to seven years and I recommended trying this way of dating to the woman. The woman, we’ll call Kathy first tried the E-Harmony service. . It was a very no pressure situation but was a very slow pace. It sometimes took somebody one to two weeks to get around to answering their questions. Kathy thought the process was too slow and wanted to try another service. E-Harmony charged approximately twenty-five to thirty dollars per month.
Kathy’s next attempt at senior internet dating was on Matchmaker.com which has combined with Date.com. Kathy filled out a brief profile and had the option of including a picture. For approximately twenty-five to thirty dollars per month, she was able to search through their large database and had options of email and chat. After seeing a trend of men her age looking for somebody younger, and her not wanting to date gentlemen in their seventies, she decided to stop the internet search and is going to go about it the traditional way.
Both services offer similar pricing. The pricing ranged from twenty-five to thirty dollars for the first month, with the option of a discount by choosing a multiple month plan. Choosing their yearly plan offered the deepest discount.
Seniors can join classes, go on single’s trips and become involved in their communities by volunteering their time. There are many different ways to meet people; you just have to put yourself out there.
