Finding Love in all the CyberPlaces - why we love to love online

I gave an interview to the Buffalo News last week. It ran today. I was asked about why people engage in online romances. We talked about the typical issues of loneliness, disconnectedness, fear of being hurt....But there are many more of us who do it becasue it saves time. Time we don't have with 24/7 ever-connected jobs. We live in isolation. Work in isolation. Commute in isolation. We at, drink and play in isolation too often as well. Who has time for getting dressed up? High heels hurt and shaving after you get home form a long day at work? Sometimes not worth the trouble. Cyberdating allows us to sit at home, in our bunny slippers with chinese take-out and fit cybersex and cyber-romance between episode of Game of Thrones and Girls. We don't have to straighten our apartments, empty the sink or put out dip. We don't have to worry about STDs, pregnancy or our kids walking in on us. When I do CNN or other news programs, or am shot for TV from my home, I often get dressed for the camera from the waist up. no one sees that I am barefoot or in my favorite sweatpants. The camera sees what you want it to see. Wearing a facial mask or had a bad skin/hair/body day/week/lifetime? No prob. Put an "out of order" notice on your webcam and do a low sexy voice instead... Sometimes, dating isn't worth the effort. And cyberdating allows us to expend as little or as much effort as we want. It's cleaner, faster and easier. Cyberdating is becoming a relationship of convenience. It's not for kids anymore. (Never was, actually.) As we think about love this Valentines Day, let's think about taking it a step further...maybe even dialing the phone! :-)