Have you found love online?

Posted By: Tina Wood | Nov 30th, 2006 @ 2:21 PM

Maybe you have and maybe you haven't. I was reading this article on cnn and it really got me thinking about how different life is now then it was ten years ago. I, personally have never gone online in search of romance but I know many people who have and it seems to have worked for them. Now, there is a new term floating around called "Mobile Romance". No, you don't make-out with your phone but you instead post your dating profile online and you will automatically receive a text-message on a GPS enabled phone when a match is nearby. This has already been working in China. And there are similar programs like Dodgeball already here in the U.S. It got me thinking, what's next for online dating?

Tags: GPS, Internet, online dating, Seattle

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Comments (11)

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TeddyB

I've definitely had crushes, some major, on girls I've met online. But, I wasn't seeking them when I met them. I just came across them on a forum, or by other means. As far as actual online dating services are concerned, I haven't thrown my hat into that ring. I'm kind of wary of it... and a little shy Smiley

But I do think the mobile romance idea sounds pretty neat.

jsampsonPC

I did - I actually found my wife online.

We met after a few weeks of chatting (she lived down the road about 10 minutes), and went to dinner. Six months later, we were married. We just celebrated our first anniversary at Disney in Orlando - w00t.

As "weird" as some people consider online-dating to be, I owe much to it as I have found my life-love via it's connectivity-powers. Long live the interweb, and it's cupid-like capabilities.

As far as the GPS thing goes, sound like a weird twist off of Geocaching. "So Tom left his girlfriend over here according to these coordinates...here, look beneath that tree-stump."

Maybe we can now find Hoffa a soil-mate...I mean, soul-mate?

Jonathan Sampson
www.SampsonResume.com

TeddyB

In reply to jsampsonPC

#Nov 30th, 2006 @ 4:39 PM

I admit it... the soil-mate line got a grin out of me. Smiley

Laura

Well Miss Wood...while I haven't FOUND love online, I have definitely nourished love online. If you give good IM, you've got me Smiley

Arztek

I have very mixed feelings on this issue. It feels so artificial at face value and you really have to pursue it or talk to people who've found it before you can believe it. I've been through two online relationships that just never went anywhere. Well, at least one didn't, but things just never came together. College life and distance tend to complicate things all the time. It's really fun to flirt on IM or through a video chat, but things just break down when you're face to face with the person you've spent all this time communicating with.

I prefer meeting and getting to know people in person. Sure, it can be a little nervous or annoying, but the rewards are greater and the experience is a little more exhilerating. The down side is when it fails...it feels even worse. Of course, online romance leads to geniune love, so there is definately something there.

I'm a bit shy myself, but I've taken a few risks every now and again. I think the real deal is a better start than online love, but I'm open to the possibilities. Besides, online services enable people to meet that never might have met in person. Mobile romance seems like a great idea.

funksoulbro

That sounds like a great idea as it increases the likelyhood of a chance meeting.

Well from what I've understood from a published study in the UK is that people who are looking and posting their profile have a hard time dealing with the frequent subtle rejection. One may like your profile and initiate a conversation which becomes engaging but then comes the second and third photo and it may not be like they expected, and then they either decline politely or they never answer you back. I think it wears you out eventually...

TeddyB

The internet is one of the greatest and worst things to happen to relationships I think. I mean I know dozens of people I consider real friends that I only know online. I've never met them in person, and probably never will. But we play games together, are on the same message boards and chat rooms, etc. I've known them for years, mostly on G4 and Allgames. They're great people I never would've met without the internet. But then, I think the internet can keep you from going out and forming real relationships with actual physical people. Sure, you can chat with a screen name, laugh with it, or chainsaw it in Gears of Wars, but you can't go out and catch a movie with it.

Not that I've tried.

Dengin

In reply to Laura

#Nov 30th, 2006 @ 6:49 PM

ROFL, That was funny. Your hawtness is only surpassed by your coolness.

Dengin

Well,. yes, actually I have, but I don't want to talk about it Tongue Out

Like Teddy said, the Internet is the best and worst thing that has happened to relationships. I've been on-line since the Bitnet relay days (1991), and I've seen and heard it all, found love, lost love, affairs, crimes of passion, etc. It hasn't been pretty. But then, in some cases, shamefully few, it's worked out well, as the gentleman below mentioned.

As for the future, it's up to the people, they need to realize the dynamics of on-line relationships. No site can match a person due to a boxed set of 'compatibilities', that's just not giong to work, you need the face time, the real-life compatibility test. The Internet offers a level of anonimity that can help on the one hand, by offering people a chance to feel each other out so to speak without the initial awkwardness of social situations, but it also tends to obscure some very important facts about people that you really need to know to determine whether or not you're compatible with someone. Technology will change, it'll make things easier to connect people, which is how the internet started, as a way to exchange information between government and educational instititions, the whole 'relationship' thing was a predictable side-effect. If you give people a chance to connect, in whatever way, shape or form, they will find a way to turn it into something that works for them.