While computer users were once caricatured as romantic no-hopers, a new study indicates that people who refuse to go online may be the ones who struggle to find love.
The research found that 82.2 per cent of people with access to the web at home also had a spouse or partner, compared to 62.8 per cent of those without an internet connection.
The US academics behind the study said that the increasing popularity of online dating meant that the internet would soon overtake introductions from friends as the most common way for people to meet prospective partners.
Michael J Rosenfeld, the associate professor of sociology at Stanford University who led the research, said the results challenged the view that the internet can distract people from forming real-life relationships.
He said that internet dating was proving particularly popular with groups – including middle-aged divorcees – who have traditionally had difficulty finding suitable partners.
Professor Rosenfeld said: "With the meteoric rise of the internet as a way couples have met in the past few years, and the concomitant recent decline in the central role of friends, it is possible that in the next several years the internet could eclipse friends as the most influential way Americans meet their romantic partners, displacing friends out of the top position for the first time since the early 1940s.”
He added: "The internet is not simply a new and more efficient way to keep in touch with our existing networks; rather the internet is a new kind of social intermediary that may reshape the kinds of partners and relationships we have."
The study was based on a survey of 4,002 adults, 3,009 of whom had a partner.
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