History of digital dating: “Computer-Balls” and digital pairing in Finland from the 1960s to the present

Abstract

This paper focuses on the cultural history of digital matchmaking from a Finnish point of view. By using examples from the mainframe computer era, personal computer applications, as well as from the age of the Internet, the paper argues that three reasons, popularization of technology, modernization of conventional partner seeking practices and the scientification of intimate relationships, are constantly adapted and appropriated to the language of the newest media and computing technology.