Welcome to 2016 - the world of online everything. Including, but not limited to, ordering dinner, buying groceries, endless cat videos, and everyone's favorite: dating. Online dating is kind of the norm for my generation now and shows like Catfish: The TV Show give viewers a glimpse into the harsh reality that is online dating. It is extremely difficult to find normal people through the internet and with all the dating sites to choose from, you tend to get what you pay for. I mean that quite literally - the free sites are full of weirdos, the ones you pay for cost entirely too much (in my opinion) but you may have a better chance at finding someone worth talking to. I have met several people through online dating and been on a handful of dates that were...interesting. With that, I thought I would share some things I have learned along the way.

1. Never, ever, ever meet your date for the first time in a secluded space.

There are enough horror stories to steer me away from that thought. But there are plenty of people who offer "dinner at my house" as a legit suggestion for a first date. No. Move on.

2. Ghosting is a thing.

If you have not heard of the term, ghosting is when you are talking to somebody and then they suddenly disappear. They either stop talking to you, their profile is gone, or God only knows what. But it is a real thing and something to be cautious of in the online dating world.

3. Catfish is a TV show for a reason.

This show has been on for multiple seasons and they make it sound like people are emailing them every day with stories about someone they think is lying about who they are. It is so, so important to look people up as much as you can to make sure they are who they say they are.

4. Texting is an art, apparently.

Let's say you start talking to someone on a dating site and get to the point where you exchange numbers. Then it turns into this dumb game where you don't want to seem overly anxious about talking to them, as if you were sitting by your phone waiting for a text to come through. You also don't want to seem disinterested, so you don't want too much time to lapse before responding. But you still barely know each other so finding the right balance is difficult and, if you're like me, everything gets over-analyzed.

5. Weirdos.

Goodness gracious. I have so many friends who have been on dates with some strange people and I have too. My favorite was one guy who, on the first date, told me about his alcohol problems affecting his liver, anger problems, and a bad history with women he has dated. He knew my job as a domestic and sexual violence clinician and yet he still thought the date went well. Good news: I didn't ghost him. Bad news: he didn't get a second date.

If you are in the ever-exciting world of online dating, share some of your stories! I'd love to hear them and we can laugh together.