Computer Love

Thanks to fast broadband connections and other innovations in technology, love is now found through the digital world of online dating. In 2010, one in five singles have dated someone they met on a dating site or are currently in a committed relationship with someone they met online according to datingsitereviews.com. Topped with membership fee's and advertising, this makes the online dating industry valued between $3 billion - 4 billion a year according to the Economist.

Online dating has been driven by several trends in society. One of these is that people now move around more often for work, distancing themselves from friends and family members who would normally play matchmakers. Another is that people are living longer, making them more likely to look for new love later in life. Also, with the spread of fast broadband connectivity and innovation of technology in many countries, singles are being encouraged to dabble in online dating. Some of these innovations in technology are forms of electronic communication such as social networks, e-mail and instant messaging. 

Mobile Dating

The next big bubble to happen in on-line dating is the adoption of it through mobile smartphones. According to mobile research group Ground Truth, mobile dating saw a 92% increase in users since the summer began with the average user of a mobile phone spending 12 minutes and 44 seconds on mobile dating sites per week.

Although this new form of soul-mate searching and intimacy have resulted in positive outcomes for people, there has also been some negative affects.

Cyber Affairs

An increase in what many call "Cyber Affairs," where married couples create single profiles on online dating sites and indulge extramarital affairs, have left many marriages and families ruined.

According to authorsden.com, "In the past 10 years, divorce attorneys have reported seeing an increase in divorces and separations resulting from cyber infidelity.  According to the Fortino Group, one-third of divorce litigation is caused by online affairs."

The website also mentioned the following statistics about Cyber Affairs:  

1. According to statistics, 50 percent of people who engage in internet chats have made phone contact with someone they chatted with online.
2. 30 percent of cyber affairs escalate from e-mail to telephone calls to personal contact.
3. 31 percent of people had an online conversation which eventually led to real-time sex.

This shows the likelihood of cyber affairs occurring and is one of many reasons why online daters to be cautious for whom they pursue.

Virtual Girlfriends

A new trend occurring, specifically in Japan, is the adoption of virtual girlfriends/boyfriends for busy and single men and women. One of these popular virtual dating games is the Nintendo DS Love Plus+.

Since the marriage rate among Japan's shrinking population is falling and with many of the country's remaining lovebirds heading for Hawai or Australia's Gold Coast, the resort town Atami attracted single men who play Love Plus+ for a romantic cavation with their virtual girlfriends.

In the frst month of the city's promotional campaign, more than 1,500 male fans of the Japanese dating-simulation game Love Plus+ travelled to Atami for a fomantic date with their videogame character girlfriends.

Love Plus+ re-creates the experience of an adolescent romance while the goal is not just to get the girl but to maintain a relationship with her.

"There isn't a lot of romance in my life and this helps me cope with some of the loneliness," said Love Plus+ video game player Mr. Fukazawa.

The city is still running a yearly promotion with Love Plus+. The Wall Street Journal conducted a special interview with the local businesses and resorts. To view the video, click here.

Virtual dating is also popular in other countries and a virtual boyfriend/girlfriend can be found as applications within the iPhone and Android.

In 2008, NYU Student Drew Burrows invented a 2-D virtual girlfriend from a software and infrared program. The virtual girlfriend curls and speaks to you once you lie in bed based upon movements of one's body. To read the full story, click here.

Although I am an advocate for technology and innovation, I find that romance is best experienced through face-to-face encounters. Romance and love finding isn't always best to find through a computer algorithm that correlates and distinghuishes one's compatbility with another. Nor is it ideal to make up your own girlfriend and have a romantic dinner with a portable game console or cuddle next to a 2-D girlfriend.

However, it does fulfill the gap of loneliness that many people are experiencing. Wonder what new ways of romance are in store for society within the near future.