Match.com Has The Hook-Up On The Rules Of Modern Dating

Although some of the traditional do's and don'ts of relationships are still in play, the rules of the dating game have changed drastically in recent years. Match.com examined over 5,000 Americans looking for love online, in a study called "Everything You Think You Know About Singles is Wrong," and found that singles in 2011 look very different from the singles of yore.

So what's changed?

• Rejection is a whole lot easier. Who hasn't struggled to find the right way to explain to a date that you're no longer interested in seeing them? It's an awkward situation that many young singles in America are now likely to avoid altogether. Rather than explicitly rejecting a suitor, Match.com found that 1 in 4 women between the ages of 21 and 34 are evasive about their availability, or will simply ignore a date's calls, text messages, and emails. Women over 35, however, are still slightly more inclined to politely express their disinterest.
• Women are taking charge of their own dating destinies. Gone are the days of ladies waiting anxiously by the phone for a second date - over half of women now initiate communication on their own, instead of waiting for men to call after a date.
• The written word is more important than ever, but not in the form of love poems. Approximately one third of men and women use text messaging to get in touch after a successful first date. Unsurprisingly, almost 60% are young, between 21 and 34.
• Facebook reigns supreme. 26% of singles aged 21-35 believe it's acceptable to add a date as a Facebook friend after 2-3 dates, and 1 out of 6 people in the same age range think it's ok to add a date before the first date actually takes place.
• Getting to first base has never been easier. More than half of men polled reported that making out is appropriate sexual activity on a first date, though only 1 in 4 women agreed. Over all, over 45% of people aged 21-44 considered making out on a first date to be completely acceptable behavior.
• On the other hand, getting farther than first base might be harder than you think. About 25% of women said that they would prefer to wait for an exclusive relationship before having sex with a new partner, and 32% of men said that they would be happy to wait until the other person felt ready.
• In a world in which it seems like practically everything is available in the blink of an eye, over half of singles report knowing if there's no chemistry with a date within the first 15 minutes. 3% even claimed that they could tell within 10 seconds!

Of course there's more where that came from...we'll look at a few of the myths Match busted in the next post!

For more information on the dating site which conducted this survey, you can read our review of Match.com.