Personally, I think online dating websites such as Eharmony and Match.com are the cornerstone for the devaluation of real human relationships in a digital world. Similar to Ted and Will's resentment of the myspace community, is how I feel about online dating websites. In Philosophical Issues in Chapter 12 where the author warns about the, "importance of integrating the real body with the virtual body," is where I find my quarrel with online dating websites. This is a GREAT youtube video which challenges these online dating websites from a different point of view. Why would people waste their time and money on these expensive (generally $1 a day after start up fees) websites when they could join myspace or facebook for free? This video helped me draw the thin but distinct line in between online dating websites and social networks. Although I agree that social networks are much more susceptible to annoying advertisements and false digital personas than a dating website with a background check, I think the ability to be able to recognize actual people from false identities adds to the value of true digital human interaction.
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There have been several books written on love, romance, and sex online. As for dating, computerized matchmaking has been around since I was a kid in the sixties. Back then, you had to answer questions on a form, filling in ovals with a #2 pencil, and mail it in with a fee (I think it was $20--we used to pick up these forms when I was a kid and fool around with them). The idea is to find a compatible match, but this does represent the attempt to replace a traditional social function--the matchmaker, as in Fiddler on the Roof, matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match--with a scientific/technological substitute.
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