Video calls sound intimidating to you.

You are worried about the prospect of having to do a video call with someone you match with on a dating app.

As a camera-shy person, you don’t like the idea of seeing yourself on a screen.

The idea of doing video calls with a match makes you nervous.

You are even wondering whether avoiding them altogether is possible.

It is.

Not everyone who matches on dating apps end up doing video calls.

It’s alright if you don’t feel comfortable doing them.

You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, regardless of requests made by people you meet on a dating app.

There are alternatives in how to go about communicating with a match.

If you prefer texting or talking over the phone, these are options that are available to you.

Now, are there advantages with doing video calls that aren’t present when doing phone calls or sending text messages to a match?

Yes.

Being that you are meeting dating potentials on dating apps, doing video calls fairly early gives you confirmation that your match looks like they have represented themselves to be in their dating profile photos.

Unfortunately, people on dating apps aren’t always honest.

They either catfish, which is a term used to describe someone online who has stolen the identity of someone else and uses that stolen identity as their own on a dating app.

Then there are those who post photos of themselves from many years ago, when they looked younger and were in better physical shape.

This is deceiving.

Imagine spending weeks or months chatting with this person, only to finally meet them in real life and discover that they are far older and heavier than their photos presented.

That is heartbreaking and such a waste of precious time you will never get back.

The advantage of doing video calls early is that it eliminates these issues.

You never have to worry about whether your match has stolen someone else’s identity as their own, or has posted old photos from their younger, fitter days that are completely misrepresentative of what they look like in present day.

This aside, video calls give you a preliminary perception of chemistry.

You two learn whether you are capable of having extemporaneous communication face to face, albeit through a video screen, which gives you a precursor to what a first date would be like with this match.

This saves you time.

Rather than finding this out on a first date after weeks of texting or calling each other.

Face to face communication, even through video calls, is a strong determiner of how well you two would get along in a real life venue.

All this being said, you don’t have to do video calls if you aren’t comfortable with them.

However, if you choose not to, don’t spend too much time talking to each other over texts and phone calls before meeting.

Arrange an in-person meeting with each other fairly soon.

The longer you wait, you expose yourself to the possibility that not only could this person be a catfish or someone who has posted old photos of themselves that aren’t representative of what they look like in present day, but you continue to keep yourself in the dark as to whether the online chemistry you share with this person translates to real life chemistry.