How people have started to find love online
Over the past few years, many technological developments have led us to change different aspects of our lives. We no longer shop just from grocery stores but also from online stores. We have started watching movies on platforms rather than just going to the theatres, and now, we have built apps to find love online! Earlier, finding love was a very local affair; people met through family, friends, school, or mutual connections, but since the past few years, the internet has also revolutionized how we fall in love.
A now-famous graph, cited with sociology cricles, shows th rise and fall of different ways in which people meet their romantic partner over the decades. Starting with the 1960’s the most commone way to meet a spouse in the U.S was through family or church. Moving towards the 70’s and the 80’s, people usually met through college or work. But starting around the late 90’s, a new trend emerged, people started meeting online.
The graph shows us a sudden sharp rise in the internet facilitated relationships, slowly overtaking churches, friends, family, and work by the mid-2010s. Online dating today is one the most common ways people meet, and in many countries, the idea of meeting someone online has been normalized just by looking for love on the screen. It’s not bad; it’s just that so much has changed that we have had no time to think about all these.
But what has truly changed isn’t just technology; it’s the mindsets of people. The internet has managed to break through a lot of boundaries like geography, time zones and social cricles. Suddenly people are not limited to something; you could connect with anyone across the globe based on your interests, values and somebody who actually cares for them.
But this shift hasn’t happened equally everywhere.
India: The change of finding arranged matches online
While many places have embraced this new way of finding love, dating in India is still culturally and socially resistant, especially outside the urban cities. Dating apps do exist, but often they cater to a much younger and urban demographic. For most Indian adults, the search for a life partner still very much happens under the name of “arranged marriage”, where families get immensely involved in selecting suitable matches.
Yet, somehow even this traditional system has gone digital.
Websites like nadarkannalam.com are part of a growing industry of caste and community-specific matrimonial platforms. These “matrimonial” sites, serve a very similar purpose to dating apps, but within a cuturally structured way. Mostly it is families that browse potential matches based on caste, religion, profession and other values, all with one single goal; marriage!!
It’s a fascinating fusion of old and new: the digital age powering one of the world’s oldest matchmaking traditions.
Whether it’s through a swipe, a friend, or a family-arranged match on a website, the ways we find love continue to evolve. What stays constant is the human desire to connect. The internet didn’t change that—it just expanded the map.