So the inclination among online daters is to find out as much as they can about their match before they actually meet. Those who meet online often correspond for weeks before getting together, and some give out cell numbers rather than more private home lines. Some experts say such gadgets only compound problems in the offline romantic world, making people more, not less, isolated. People in their 20s and 30s, especially, already spend so much time on the computer that their in-person social skills have suffered, the pros say. But online, in the absence of other sensory information, the phenomenon accelerates.
Words become everything.
High-tech daters become so enthralled with their intellectual connections, he says, that they may assume there will be a natural physical attraction. But creating a fantasy partner out of a few carefully chosen lines can set up a big disappointment when the spark fizzles in person. Even though the trend is to use the computer, I still find that most good relationships don't happen over the Internet. Techno-advocates play down the problems. E-mail, they say, has spurred a return to romanticism.