text: You certainly don't have to.  I myself think it's better to meet people in real life, anyways.  However, we live in a time when everybody is much more demanding- we want our partners and our friends to be tailored to us- the same hobbies, same likes, perfect compatibility in personalities.  Gone are the days when you met someone different and built a friendship through various experiences and henceforth had a good, reliable buddy- now you find friends based on Myspace groups and so on.  Not that it's a bad thing . . . just different.  Same with online dating- people want someone who is guaranteed to be perfect for them.  I've always felt that if you love a person, and they love you, you will both make it work, because no relationship comes perfect.  They all take work.  Perhaps that's the reason there's so much divorce nowadays; I don't know.  But online dating makes it possible to hand-select a lover by eye color, hair color, weight, height, blood type . . . I joke.  But still.  Goodness gracious.\n\nWe already spend so much time on the computer, it just seems natural to try and find companionship while there- a nice instant messaging box comes up while working on something, and it feels nice and sweet.  It just grows from there.