Dating in general has become a difficult arena because of the time constraints people have in today's fast paced society. The time involved with work activities, volunteer activities, children etc. leaves little time for people to connect with and develop relationships with other people. The beauty of internet dating is we can quickly and discretely sort through potential partners based on their internet profiles, and pursue potential relationships with those individuals that truly do appeal to us. It also gives us the opportunity to interact with people through a "dating pen pals" e-mail environment before ever meeting face to face. You can move as slow as you like or as fast as you like...it is all up to you!
Many of the online dating sites offer programs
sites like omegle for free. This allows you to see what their site provides prior to you signing up as a member. These free dating options usually limit what you can do as far as contacting other members of the web site, but it does give you an idea of how the site works, and how many potential matches are in your area that may interest you. To have full access to all the features of an online dating site, you must sign up as a paying member. Costs range from around $15 per month to $50 per month depending on the length of time you sign up for, and also on the dating site you are choosing to become a member of. Most online dating sites offer incentives for long term membership, and also discounts for new member sign ups.