A military wife-to-be and a country romance, a future preacher's wife and an international bond. These couples are in a variety of relationship situations but despite their differences, they use technology to help maintain their love and remain connected.
The continuous changes in technology are redefining the way relationships can work. Increases in online dating and the social media available are just a few ways technology plays a role in the dating scene.
Freshman journalism major Taylor Moreland is days away from marrying her love Cameron Eaton, an Army soldier stationed in Fort Carson, Colo. They've known each other since their freshman year of high school, but it wasn't until junior year that he got the courage to ask for her phone number through Facebook.
"I know that Cameron would've never asked me for my phone number had it not been for Facebook," Moreland said. "I think we still would've been in a relationship had it not been for technology, but I think it would've been harder to do."
Sarah Luebcke, a speech pathology graduate student, met her fiancé Chris Beck through Plenty Of Fish, a religious online dating website. She made the profile to support a friend doing the same thing and then left it alone.
After hearing about a stalking incident related to online dating, Luebcke went to delete her profile. Before doing so, she read through the messages guys sent her. She received a message from Beck asking if her Lutheran faith was real, something that means a lot to her.
"I responded to Chris saying that my faith is really important to me," Luebcke said. "I told him that I don't have time for this [the dating site], and if he wanted to talk to look me up on Facebook. He found me and pestered me there. Then I gave him my number, and we would call and text each other. Eventually we met up and for me, it was love at first sight."
While Luebcke attends school at Ball State, her fiancé is at seminary school in Fort Wayne. She said that they use Skype, Facebook, simple phone calls and a lot of texting to communicate with each other. She said if she couldn't see Chris or hear his voice in some way, the relationship probably wouldn't have worked.
To learn more about these couples and how technology has played a big role in their relationships, visit ballbearingsmag.com.
By the numbers
- $2.1 billion - the projected worth of the dating service industry in the United States
- 1,500 - estimated number of dating sites in the United States
- 5.5 million of the 54 million singles use dating services
- 1 in 5 couples meet online
- 2.9 percent of U.S. marriages are considered long distance
- 25 to 40 percent of all romantic relationships among college students are in some way long distance
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