Does online dating make it easier to find a compatible partner?
Is clicking and choosing better or worse than old-fashioned matchmaking?
Finding a perfect mate online can be click and miss.
Critics say it's impersonal or a threat to monogamy. But some studies suggest that a match made there is more likely to last than one made the old-fashioned way.
And just in time for Valentine's Day, a Pew survey shows that people are looking for love through online dating, with more than four times as many young adults using mobile apps than just three years ago — in the U.S., at least.
Does online dating make it easier to find a compatible partner?
Readers let us know in our latest CBC Forum, a daily, live and hosted discussion about topics of national interest. Here are some of their thoughts.
(Please note that user names are not necessarily the names of commenters. Some comments have been altered to correct spelling and to conform to CBC style. Click on the user name to see the full comment in the blog format.)
"Online is not really an option any more. It is the only way." — Willy
"You still need to meet in person to see if you're compatible or not. It's technology as ice breaker." — Joan
"Dating online doesn't mean you aren't careful or selective; it just gives you a chance to meet a wonderful selection of people whom you might never have met otherwise." — Raycub22
"Online dating is an amazing way to meet others when you fell outside of the hetero/mono-normative spectrum! I've met so many lovely friends and partners online. It is a ... safe place for the polyamorous community (as well as other gender/sexual preference minorities)." — Meg
"Most people I know in long-term relationships met at work, school or some activity group. What's wrong with that? If you don't have time to even meet that way do you have the time to put into a relationship?" — off the post
"I think online dating really has brought the whole dating experience to an all-time low. There's such potential for people to misrepresent themselves online and for people to misinterpret how someone is, because so much of communication is non-verbal. Also, there's always someone potentially better at the click of a mouse, isn't there?" — NewfGirl
With files from CBC's Cross Country Checkup and Reuters