From Virtual Foreplay to Internet Soul Mates
I often tell my friends I live in a cave. Seems like I'm the last to find out quite a few things.
Was browsing Amazon.com today and realized that a large number of books have been written about online love, romance, dating, and, just about everything related.
A couple of titles caught my eye, such as Internet Soul Mates, and, Virtual Foreplay: Making Your Online Relationship a Real-Life Success.
The topics hit home. Proverb, my wife, and I met online in 1999, and carried on a three year Internet relationship before finally meeting in person in 2002, and marrying in 2003. Didn't dawn on me at the time to research the Internet romance phenomenon, though I imagine there weren't quite as many titles on the subject available in 1999.
Proverb and I didn't meet through a chat room or online dating service. She sent an email to an online magazine, it found its way to me, and I answered. We both now wonder how many hours we spent chatting online together over the three years before we met in person. Easily, 3-4 hours a day, seven days a week, with hardly a day ever missed. Some serious typing.
Sometimes we play "what if?" One of our favorites is, what would have happened if we had met in person first, instead of over the Interent? Would there have been an instant attraction? We're both socially shy and reserved. We wonder who and what would have broken the ice. Interesting to think that it can be easier to meet someone 8,000 miles away than it is to meet someone 8 feet away.
There's a lot to be said for "distance", and a lot to be said about long distance relationships. Meeting and getting to know someone at a distance allows you to avoid distraction and focus on whom you're really talking to, the person behind the face. At least that's certainly the case if you communicate for several hours a day over a three year period.