Has online dating made us less likely to commit?

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Is the growth of online dating killing future marriages?

With “spousal alternatives” just a click away, our ideas about commitment may be changing.

In North America, 30 to 40 million people use online dating sites, a quarter of all Canadians have tried Internet dating, and 16 per cent have had sex with someone they met online; it is an efficient, targeted way to meet a suitable mate. But it can be a double-edged sword.

“On the one hand, the online world is allowing people to find matches that are much more compatible. We’re finding people can set the bar higher because they can find exactly what they want online, specifying profession, age or interests,” says Katie Engelhart with Maclean’s magazine.

“But on the other hand, the online world creates a perception that there alternatives out there and some studies have suggested that is bad for a marriage,” she adds.

Engelhart has done a lot of research for an article in this month’s issue of Maclean’s and says it seems people who use the Internet to find love are becoming less likely, or at least slower, to settle down.

“I think there’s an argument to be made that values are changing; that’s certainly the line from the online dating industry,” she tells News1130. “But the fact of the matter is when the pool of potential mates is widened and when it becomes easier to meet new people, it causes us to raise our own personal bars.”

“I think, in that sense, the values of commitment might change. Whereas before, it was encouraged to work through relationship problems, now it might just be easier to start afresh.”

One in five new relationships now begin online for heterosexual couples; the rate is 60 per cent for same-sex matches. That’s despite more than 80 per cent of dating site users misrepresenting their height, weight or age in their profiles.

In marriages that begin online, the average courtship lasts just over 18 months, compared to 42 months for marriages that start off-line.