Love

Playing The Field: The Pros & Cons Of Dating Around

Playing The Field: The Pros & Cons Of Dating Around [EXPERT]]

Welcome to Online Dating Bootcamp: Day 9! Today is all about weighing the advantages and disadvantages of dating more than one internet match at a time, featuring advice from YourTango Experts Lyndsay Katauskas and Samantha Karlin. (Wanna brush up on Bootcamp Days 1-7? Start here.)

Before you tried online dating, you were always pretty much the monogamous type. Now that you're swimming in a sea of potential suitors, you're considering dating more than one fish at a time. Not so fast, Casanova! Before you start breaking hearts, consider these pros and cons of dating around:

PRO: Getting to know people intellectually, emotionally and spiritually takes time. While you're still technically single, why not expand your options? —Lyndsay Katauskas, MEd

CON: By dating multiple men, you're relying more on luck than dating experience to figure out which guys are keepers and which ones to throw back. —Lyndsay Katauskas, MEd

PRO: Dating around takes the initial focus off of one person and alleviates the stress that comes along with waiting for that phone to ring. Sometimes only dating one person causes you to pour way too much attention towards that person at the get-go, and that will send him running, and you into heartache. —Samantha Karlin

CON: Dating other people just to take the focus off of one person can also be a fruitless waste of time. Make sure that if you do decide to date multiple people, something about each person genuinely interests you. If you know from the beginning it's a no-go, you're just wasting their time and your own. —Samantha Karlin

PRO: Fun dates with many guys keeps you in control. By dating more than one at a time, you won't waste time getting emotionally invested with men who do not have your best interest at heart. —Lyndsay Katauskas, MEd

CON: When you're dating around, it's wise to wait longer to be sexually intimate. That can be frustrating for both of you. —Lyndsay Katauskas, MEd 

PRO: Dating multiple people can be a great way to understand the qualities of the person you are seeking; by paying attention and using insight on your dates, you can learn a lot about what you need in a partner, and what you don't. —Samantha Karlin

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