Romantic Relationships and Online Dating

Abstract

The influence of technology in our lives has seeped into nearly every aspect of how we relate to others. We connect with our friends and family through text, email, social networking sites (SNS), and instant messaging to name but a few. Through a variety of online platforms we seek old and new friends, business partnerships and collaborations, employers and employees and of course, we seek candidates for those relationships most dear to us, romantic relationships. This chapter cannot attempt to address the vast area of how technology changes the ways in which we interact in all of our relationships, but rather will focus on the influence of technology and the Internet on our romantic relationships, in particular how we find those relationships through online dating.