USA TODAY - Jan 23 - In his new book, Love in the Time of Algorithms: What Technology Does to Meeting and Mating,
writer Dan Slater argues that online dating has changed society
profoundly.
Q: What is it about online dating today that you believe has made such a big difference?
A:
It's the vast expansion of the dating pool. People tended to be moving
from one relationship to the next a lot faster than they seemed to
before online dating existed.
Q: You suggest that online dating has made relationships more disposable. Why?
A: It made a lot more people feel they are part of a larger mating pool than they were used to.
Q: How much science is really involved in matching people the way online dating does?
A: Online dating does seem to be improving at is the likelihood of two
strangers getting along well on a first date. The psychological science
has not provided the ability to predict long-term compatibility between
a couple who have never met.
Q: How did you meet your wife, Sophie?
A: I used a total of two
sites through which I dated on and off about 12 months.Sophie and I
actually met in a yoga class in January 2009. I asked her out, but she
had a boyfriend. We went our separate ways for 2½ years. Then we
reconnected on Facebook.
