Has the Internet Changed the Way Women Think About Love?

It’s no secret the Internet is one of the most profound inventions to ever find its way to planet Earth. In the history of humankind, there is arguably no comparable invention that could hold a flame to the Internet when it comes to connecting an otherwise disconnected world, including the telephone.

Think about it — we use the Internet to shop, do research, communicate with friends who live afar and update our social media sites to keep the world up to date about what we’re feeling on a minute-to-minute basis.

During its infancy stages, no one ever imagined the Internet would be used for commerce, news updates or banking, let alone become a device that would help men and women find love.

The Internet and the many matchmaker sites found online have transformed the way we think about falling in love, simplifying an otherwise tedious and complicated dating process.

Incredibly, 20 percent of all modern day American marriages blossomed from a man and a woman meeting online. Many believe this has made us lazy, with women looking solely to online resources instead of getting dressed up and going out on the town in hopes of finding Mr. Right.

“We use email, Facebook and Twitter to tell the

man we’re with that we are thinking about him.”

The obvious dating difference created by the Internet is that looking for love has never been easier. When you go guy hunting online, you eliminate a lot of wasted time, because dating sites allow you to set preferences that automatically discard men who aren’t right for you.

This feature makes dating super convenient, because you can learn just about everything you need to know about a guy by reading his online profile and viewing his pictures.

If you met this same guy under “typical” dating circumstances, you would likely have to invest a few precious months to reveal these same personal facts. In today’s fast-paced world, who has that kind of time?

Plus, chatting with a hot guy online is a no-nonsense way to get to know him. Internet dating relies completely on the written word, eliminating other elements that make the getting-to-know-each-other phase a bit more difficult.

Body language is 80 percent of verbal communication, and when that is eliminated by the methodology of Internet dating, then tone of voice, personal mannerisms and other nonverbal cues are removed from the equation.

When communicating with a man you’re interested in via the Internet, all you have are typed words on a screen, which can be a lot more helpful in developing a meaningful intimate relationship, and it is more conducive to discussions about things you might be embarrassed to talk about in person.

Forget about handwritten love letters that come in the mail or scribbled poems on torn notebook pages.

Now we use email, Facebook and Twitter to tell the man we’re with that we are thinking about him, love him or miss him, and we expect him to reciprocate.

We are quick to change our relationship status to “In a relationship” or back to “Single” as the situation calls for it. For that matter, a lot of men and women don’t even give their partner the courtesy of a face-to-face breakup anymore – they do it over the Internet!

Yes, those of us who can recall a life before the Internet recognize the dating game will never be the same. We see how significantly the landscape of love has changed over the last 15 years and recall the days of yesteryear in a distant memory.

While some would praise the Internet as a fantastic way to meet guys, and it surely is, some of us old folks long for a time when dinner and a movie was the first step in getting to know someone instead of an event that occurred after months of online chatting, cruising profiles and providing Photoshopped pictures that hide our love handles.