Introduction
The Internet has changed all of our lives dramatically in the last twenty years. Every aspect of our lives has been made faster, better, safer, and easier than ever before. Romance and dating have been hit harder than most with 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 were involved in other activities at night or on the weekends, it would always be difficult to find that special someone to share your life with. The usual methods of going to pubs or clubs were, and still are, fraught with difficulties. The Internet has allowed prospective mate seekers to advertise to the world and wait and 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 did not have in their search scope. Suddenly they weren’t limited to their circle of friends and coworkers. They were now promoting themselves 24 hours a day to thousands of like-minded potential romantic partners. Not everything improved with the advent of online dating. Just like any other system, online dating was prone to misuse by less genuine people with exaggerated or just plain fake profiles and profile pictures. This has been enhanced in recent years with the rise in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram.
Check
A common use of Facebook in dating is to gather useful information about your potential date. This could be used to ensure that the person you think you are meeting is genuine and who they say they are. Social networks leave a trail so that anyone can find important information about a possible date. The main benefit here is with regards to security. If you can confirm that the person is genuine, it makes meeting them less risky. Another benefit of using Facebook, Twitter, or another social networking site to get insight into a potential date is that it can give you some useful topics to talk about. First dates are tricky, but with a handful of topics that you know your date is interested in, the whole process will be so much easier.
Communication
Once in a relationship, technology has also had a huge impact on the way we chat, flirt, and generally keep 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. Primarily invented to send short, informative messages, they now form the bulk of communication between romantic partners when they’re not in each other’s company. The advantages of text messages are that they are fast and convenient and can be answered at your leisure. A major drawback is that the written text does not allow any inflection or emotion to be added, so the messages can be misinterpreted. Plus, there’s the dreaded predictive text confusion where the phone replaces what you’re typing with what it thinks you meant to type. This can have disastrous effects, but it also provides some laughs. Some people even use SMS to break up with their partner.
Conclusion
Technology has improved the way we find love and communicate with our loved ones, but it has also alienated us from loved ones with our overreliance 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’re apart.