For most people, however, digital dating offers better outcomes. Research has found that marriages in America between people who meet online are likely to last longer; such couples profess to be happier than those who met offline. The whiff of moral panic surrounding dating apps is vastly overblown. Precious little evidence exists to show that opportunities online are encouraging infidelity. In America, divorce rates climbed until just before the advent of the internet, and have fallen since.
然而，对大多数人而言，网恋确实产生了更好的效果。研究发现通过网恋认识的美国伴侣婚姻存续时间更加长；这些伴侣声称比那些线下认识的伴侣更加开心。伴随网恋 APP 所产生的道德恐慌被夸大了。现有的少数证据表明互联网增加了出轨的机会。在美国，离婚率随着互联网的出现的上升，随即下降。
Online dating is a particular boon for those with very particular requirements. Jdate allows daters to filter out matches who would not consider converting to Judaism, for instance. A vastly bigger market has had dramatic results for same-sex daters in particular. In America, 70% of gay people meet their partners online. This searchable spectrum of sexual diversity is a boon: more people can find the intimacy they seek.
网恋对于那些有着特别需求的人群而言优势明显。比如 Jdate 可以挑选出那些不考虑皈依到犹太教的人群。而对于同性伴侣之间的约会却戏剧性的产生了一个更大的市场。在美国，70% 的同性者通过互联网认知伴侣。这种可搜索的性别差异光谱产生了一个益处：更多的人可以找到所需的伴侣。
There are problems with the modern way of love, however. Many users complain of stress when confronted with the brutal realities of the digital meat market, and their place within it. Negative emotions about body image existed before the internet, but they are amplified when strangers can issue snap judgments on attractiveness. Digital dating has been linked to depression. The same problems that afflict other digital platforms recur in this realm, from scams to fake accounts: 10% of all newly created dating profiles do not belong to real people.
然而，现代化的恋爱存在一些问题。许多用户抱怨在数字化的“性市场”中所遇见的残酷的现实问题，以及用户在市场中的地位。个人身材形象所导致的负面情绪在互联网诞生之前就已经存在，而当陌生人可以对这种形象品头论足的时候就放大的这个问题。网恋和负面情绪息息相关。困扰着其他数字平台的问题也同样发生在这个领域，比如诈骗到虚假账户。新创建的账户中有 10% 并不是真人使用。
This new world of romance may also have unintended consequences for society. The fact that online daters have so much more choice can break down barriers: evidence suggests that the internet is boosting interracial marriages by bypassing homogenous social groups. But daters are also more able to choose partners like themselves. Assortative mating, the process whereby people with similar education levels and incomes pair up, already shoulders some of the blame for income inequality. Online dating may make the effect more pronounced: education levels are displayed prominently on dating profiles in a way they would never be offline. It is not hard to imagine dating services of the future matching people by preferred traits, as determined by uploaded genomes. Dating firms also suffer from an inherent conflict of interest. Perfect matching would leave them bereft of paying customers.
这种新式的罗曼史同样对于社会产生了不可预料的后果。网恋的人选择如此众多以至于打破了一些壁垒：有证据表明互联网因其可以避开不同种族之间的隔离，使得不同种族之间的通婚率上升。但网恋者同样也更加倾向于选择那些更像他们自己的伴侣。门当户对的约会，也就是拥有类似受教育程度和收入水平约会，已经承担了部分对于收入差距的批评。网恋可能会加剧这种现象：因为教育水平直接在用户的资料中展现，而线下约会却不会。不难想象未来的网恋服务将会通过那些通过上传的基因所确定特点来配对。相亲公司同样受内在兴趣爱好的困扰。完美的配对将会使得他们失去那些付费用户。
