Technology and love

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) wrote that nature is good and beautiful as long as it remains untouched by humans. He believed that the more we tune in to nature, the more we will be able to enjoy freedom, serenity, peace and equality. Recent studies support his view; spending time in nature does a person good.

Nature is the most appreciated setting for lovers. What's more romantic than a stroll in the woods, a sunset over the ocean or the rustle of leaves? Yet this is a myth. Nature is not the only ideal setting for love. Technology provides a worthwhile alternative.

The crude, the smelly and the cruel

Once upon a time, people did not brush their teeth. Dentistry did not exist. In short, the average breath smelt bad. If people overcame that hurdle and kissed (and they clearly did) their sense of smell must not have been as refined as ours.Indoor plumbing also did not exist. The average person's hygiene left room for improvement. It may be hard to believe, but those princes and princesses falling in love on the screen reeked.

Love does not depend on technology yet it refined it; adding pleasant odors, clean bodies, lengthy telephone calls, text messages, letters, an infinite number of technological options.

The art of exchanging letters

Technology, as we know, eliminates geographical distances. Distance has been reduced to a formula; distance equals speed times time.

Naturally, this formula does not work for those who rarely leave their house. The distance between Paris and London is a factor only if one travels from London to Paris. If you do not travel, distance does not exist at all. Technology created distance by allowing people to move from one place to the other, and it also eliminated it.

Love long-distance

The internet is blamed for making romance obsolete, killing courtship. Yet there is more to it.

Life online enhances the concept of distance. You can sit in your apartment in Tel Aviv and find yourself falling in love with someone in New York, but you are painfully aware of the distance between the two. You may chat online for hours, feel close, one soul embracing the other, but there is no shared bed and you can not watch the sun set together.

The internet created love that is spiritual in essence, love that thrives on words alone. We started with bad smelling kisses, and ended up with kisses made of words.