I would imagine that everyone is familiar with the overwhelming rush of love at first sight, but in this day of online dating websites and digital classified ads, the question of “love at first sight” pops into my mind as a more desirable scenario. Is it possible to feel that same rush of anticipation when you first connect with someone on the Internet compared to what is felt in the tangible world? It is all a matter of who you ask, but I believe love at first sight is a real phenomenon.
Because I am inherently shy, I have decided to dabble in online dating in an effort to act outside-the-box of convention. The process involves checking out pictures and reading profiles, and I know I have felt some degree of infatuation through encountering the digital images of a person. When you see someone of the opposite sex walking down the street, you are engaged purely by the aesthetics of that person. That is why love at first sight is a bit of a misnomer – it should be referred to attraction at first sight.
A digital image of someone garners that same element of attraction at first sight, but this visual stimulus, coupled with gaining insight into someone’s soul through words, gives love at first sight additional layers and increased significance. I feel like I actually know someone through their profile on a dating website, and there is no doubt that I feel those tell-tail, tingling sensations of instant attraction when I come across a profile that strikes a heartfelt interest.
What makes love at first sight so captivating is that unlike in the physical world where inhibitions limit most people from acting on their feelings of love at first sight, in the virtual world, it is much less of an emotional risk to take at chance and seek a connection. Rejection in the form of a textual message does not burn the psyche nearly as much as a face-to-face “thanks, but no thanks”.
The one aspect of life that haunts most people until the day they die involves questions regarding what could have been? On the Internet, we are able to instantly put that mystery to rest by acting on our desires to reach out and text someone. That is what love at first sight is all about.