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May 10, 2006
Instant Messaging and Online Dating
Email has had such a profound effect on snail mail, but the same can be said for instant messaging and the telephone. Friends that I once chatted with every couple of days on the phone are now mere contacts on my chat client. Sure, we now touch base more often, but for shorter durations, and the content that is digitally delivered contains less quantity, and more often is of questionable quality, than those discussion we had on the phone.
Enter online dating. Now the typical dating ritual for me consists of a rapid barrage of emails, then a few long, drawn out messaging conversations and then finally a phone call. Instant messaging is both a blessing and a curse. You can pick your words carefully, but you’re left to look like a dullard if your spelling isn’t up to par or worse, rude, if you take to long to write back. Depending on you and the person you’re speaking with, conversation can sometimes seem like and endless stream of emoticons—winks, smiles, broad smiles, embarrassed pac-men and stickmen doing unspeakable things. Where’s the communication? I know it just feels like we’re communicating less, but there’s no way we’re communicating more. I just think that when it comes to new relationships, where every moment counts, instant messaging makes for a lousy way to build that all-important first impression.
Posted by CupidsReviews Doug at May 10, 2006 8:56 AM
Comments
The video chat allows more to feel and to see the interlocutor, for friendly dialogue
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Posted by: flick at June 3, 2006 2:16 PM
