In her book "Virtual Love," author and columnist Meghan Daum explores the passion and pitfalls of online courtship. Online courtship, like its more tumultuous counterpart online dating, reveals the power of technology to alter the way people communicate. Body language, physical contact, and the sound of one's voice are key components of communication but are wholly absent in an online relationship. So when a relationship is pursued and developed online it becomes like an old-fashioned romance, notes Daum. Without the added stimuli of physical contact, the two parties can engage each other in Platonically loving discourse. The "getting to know you" phase lasts longer than it might in a physical dating environment where physical contact becomes paramount. Feelings of love and mutual respect emerge in the online environment and are just as genuine as they would be if the individuals met online. Therefore, the virtual reality of online courtship provides a way to return to the basics of love and traditional romance.
             Technology would seem to depersonalize a relationship. Yet as Daum points out, true emotional intimacy develops in a virtual environment more readily than in a real-world one for several reasons. First, and most obviously, no physical contact between the two individuals is possible. The two parties must learn about each other's background, personality likes and dislikes without getting distracted with issues related to sex. Second, the online courtship allows for greater freedom of expression. Although some people do lie about who they are to impress potential partners, many do not and are freer to be themselves when they can type in their pajamas, without wearing makeup, or before their body is in tip-top summer shape. Third, the lack of physicality removes the sometimes shallow and superficial parts of dating. What draws to people together online is pure energy, pure emotion, pure psychology. Online courtship does involve ...