Introduction
The Internet has dramatically changed our lives over the past twenty years. Every aspect of our lives has been made faster, better, safer, and easier than ever. Romance and dating have been hit harder than most by the growing popularity of online dating, Facebook, and mobile phones.
Meet people
Unless you worked in a big city, had a lot of friends, or participated in other activities at night or on weekends, finding someone special to share your life with was always going to be difficult. The usual methods of going to bars or clubs were, and continue to be, fraught with difficulties. The Internet has allowed potential match seekers to advertise to the world and wait to see what responses they get. For years this was always thought to be a method for sad people with no social skills and was often ridiculed. However, the basic premise was solid. The internet provided the missing ingredient that many love seekers were missing in their search, reach. Suddenly, they weren’t limited to their circle of friends and co-workers. Now they were promoting themselves 24 hours a day to thousands of potential like-minded romantic partners. Not everything got better with the advent of online dating. Like any other system, online dating was prone to misuse by less-than-genuine people with exaggerated or just plain fake profiles and profile pictures. This has been improved in recent years with the rise in popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
Checking
A common use of Facebook in dating is to gather useful information about your potential date. This could be used to make sure that the person you think you are meeting with is genuine and who they say they are. Social media leaves a trail so that anyone can find important information about a possible date. The main benefit here is related to security. If you can confirm that the person is genuine, meeting them will be less risky. Another advantage of using Facebook, Twitter, or another social media site to get an idea of a potential date is that it can provide you with some useful topics to talk about. First dates are tricky, but with a handful of topics that you know your date has an interest in, it’ll make the whole process that much easier.
Communication
Once in a relationship, technology has also had a huge impact on the way we chat, flirt, and generally stay in touch with your partner. Twenty years ago, the landline was the only way to communicate with a loved one when you were not together. The way we live has changed. Now we are always available with the use of mobile phones and tablets. The use of SMS text messages has had a massive impact on our daily lives. Invented primarily to send brief and informative messages, they now form the bulk of communication between romantic partners when they are not in each other’s company. The advantages of texting are that they are fast and convenient and can be answered at your leisure. A big drawback is that the written text does not allow to add any inflection or emotion, so the messages can be misinterpreted. Also, there is the dreaded predictive text confusion where the phone replaces what you are typing with what you think you intended to type. This can have disastrous effects but it also causes some laughs. Some people even use SMS to break up with their partner.
Conclution
Technology has improved the way we find love and communicate with our loved ones, but it has also alienated us from our loved ones with our over-reliance on quick and easy ways to say how we feel. Nothing can replace face-to-face contact and conversation, but hopefully technology can help us fill in the gaps when we are apart.