The value of online dating is that it lets you meet a lot more people than you might have before the electronic and internet era. Little girls may have dreamed of meeting prince charming but the odds were always against dating someone from outside of your socioeconomic class. After all the rich go to different school than the rest of us and the well to do hang out in different places and take different vacations. On one hand the fact that we grow up with people of the same socioeconomic class helps with dating and building relationships because we have similar ideas about life, similar wishes and similar aspirations. But what happens in the world of online dating when you meet someone of a different socioeconomic class, have a hot first date and get to really like each other? Business Day writes about dating outside your social class.

We grew up watching classics like Cinderella, Coming to America, Pretty Woman, Nollywood’s Violated and a couple of other movies where love conquered the social class divide.

Fast forward to 2017, the Internet rules; anyone can meet anyone, and nobody kicks up a fuss about cross-class relationships or marriages anymore. It is not considered overtly scandalous. We no longer factor it in when considering the root of our relationship problems, and we look to psychology or gender norms instead when trying to figure out why our partner is being an ass. We pretend that we live in a classless society where background does not matter as much as present compatibility.

The fact of the matter is that while there may be less of a social stigma to dating outside of your socioeconomic class than there once was there are still potential issues that can torpedo a promising relationship.

Social class or shall we say socio-economic differences, still pose a very difficult challenge in relationships today. Anyone who has dated someone outside their social class can affirm that there are strange tensions and inevitable speed bumps that come with these kinds of relationships. It can be fraught with complications.

One of you has grown up in a wealthy family, never wanting for money, traveling a lot and not worrying about how to pay the next set of bills. The other grew up were every penny counted, where getting on the wrong side of someone in power led to family disaster and where there was always the gnawing concern about what might happen to derail an otherwise happy life.

Different ways of growing up lead to different attitudes and also to different adult lives. People who grow up poor and become rich commonly still maintain the concerns of where they came from. While you are not especially concerned about things that involve money, money is always in issue with your friend. While your friend just seems to assume that things will work out well, you fret over the details.

If you meet and fall in love with someone from a different socioeconomic class it can certainly work out. But it helps to admit that there might be issues and to talk about them. As we commonly say, communication leads to lasting relationships.