To be or not to be honest: Daters share their opinion on how honest you can be with your online match

How honest can you be while dating online? Indian dating app, QuackQuack, asked 12,000 young daters from all over India about their opinion on “to be or not to be honest.” The survey was conducted both in metros and smaller cities. The participants ranged between 22 and 32. 3 out of 9 daters from tier 1 and 2 cities believe being too honest and open makes you dull in your matches’ eyes. While they are not against being truthful, these youngsters also advocate for the power of having an air of mystery that makes a person more gripping and leaves their match craving to know more about them.

QuackQuack Founder and CEO Ravi Mittal commented, “Honesty has been a thing of concern for daters regardless of the mode of dating. But how honest you can be is also crucial. To all our 23 million users, we suggest being truthful about the core ideals and beliefs that will make the perfect match, but we also advise against being too open about sensitive information.”

Honesty Can Be Harmful?

34% of women who participated in the survey said that honesty might be the best policy IRL, but when connecting with a stranger online, too much honesty can do more harm than good. From oversharing about your life to expecting your match to do the same, a little-too-honest conversation might come off as being nosy and not knowing when to stop. These women believe absolute honesty should only come with time, only when you know your match is worth knowing your deepest, darkest secrets. Till then, let it be on a need-to-know basis.

Don’t be an open book.

16% of daters above 30 disclosed how their honesty had been taken advantage of, regardless of the mode of dating. They expressed that being an open book might make you an easy target for people with malicious intentions.

Be honest or be rejected.

23% of women between 22 to 25, most of them still engaged in academics, said they would only date a man who isn’t afraid to be honest about every aspect of his life. They believe that if there is something you can speak of, or you can never be completely honest with your partner, it might be a relationship doomed to fail. Most of these women were unforgiving of even white lies while dating, citing counter arguments like “a lie is a lie.”

Honest and Better Judgment

47% of daters aged 25 to 35 say honesty in dating apps should come hand in hand with the dater’s better judgment. 24% of these daters were against being open about their personal details such as home address, home contact, email, work location, and other such sensitive information. The other 23% also mentioned not honestly sharing details about their family background in the initial days.

How Do You Really Look?

The study shows that 34% of men from metros and smaller cities voiced that no dater is ever honest about their looks. Profile photos are edited, even if it’s a tiny touch-up; during initial conversations, these men revealed letting their matches think they have a better physique than it is in reality. These men also feel that such trivial lies make no difference and barely ever negatively affect the budding relationship.

Honesty is the best policy!

18% of daters from tier 1 and 2 cities disclosed unmatching with people due to their dishonest behavior. They mentioned that while some things can be overlooked, dishonesty about other important topics like age, job, religion, or core values, with intentions of impressing their match, can not be tolerated.