Wake up. Log on. Browse profiles. Read messages. Write and respond to a few. Chat with a potential date on AIM. Call another potential date for the requisite "get to know you" chat. Gently let down last week's date via text. Log off. Go about your day. Go to sleep. Wake up. Repeat.
Put that way, it sounds pretty boring, doesn't it? Once the sheen of a new online dating profile wears off, the actual process of trying to meet someone on the Internet can get more than a little monotonous. In fact, it can get downright discouraging.
Online dating fatigue sets in when you're sick of sending message after message and going on one dead-end date after another. No inbox to check...no awkward pre-date phone calls...no meetings with people who looking nothing like their profile pictures...it all starts sounding like a dream come true, and before you know it, you're ready to throw in the online dating towel for good.
Hold up. Before you log off for the last time and give up on online dating altogether, consider taking a break and recharging your cyberdating batteries. Online dating fatigue is a treatable affliction. Here's how to switch up your routine and beat the burnout:
- Call in sick. Life goes on if you don't log on every day. Take a vacation from online dating - read a book, catch up on your Netflix cue, meet friends for drinks. Fill your days with something other than browsing profiles, and consider making the break a regular habit. Set up no-dating days at regular intervals (every 3 days, 5 days, 14 days, etc.).
- Try a new approach. Mix things up. Do you normally wait to receive messages from other people? Start initiating contact. Is your profile picture several years old? Upload a new photo. Have you had the exact same profile since you joined the site? Refresh it with some new text that reflects who you are now.
- Remember that dating is supposed to be fun. Don't take it all so seriously. Sure, it can be frustrating at times, but once you let go of the pressure, expectations, and need to control, you can recapture the joy that dating is supposed to be about. Online dating should be a part of your life - not your whole life. Once it feels like you're forcing yourself to do it, it's time to take a break.
- Explore other options. There's a whole wide world beyond your computer screen, so why not reacquaint yourself with it? Revisit your social life, take up a new hobby, pursue a passion. Work towards a goal. Take a class. Learn a lesson. And try out other ways of dating that you may have forgotten about, like volunteering, speed dating, and good old-fashioned nights on the town.