Technologies have put the world of dating and relationships in beta, already having redefined the ways we share our true desires and trust with each other. Today we find one another, meet up and even decline a date – all via social networks and dating services.

It is nowadays an uncontested fact that advanced technology being pervasive throughout our everyday lives. But, after all, how often do we realize its presence in our relationships and how exactly has itaffected the way we use to interact with the closest ones?

Here are five ways (some unbelievable ones, too) in which technology is changing the veryfoundation of the dating business, revealing how very little we actually know about those we think we know for our whole life – and how little we know about ourselves.

1. It literally changes our genes

Today, we may be using apps like Instagramand Facebook without even suspecting those are quite “mental scaffolding” for our own memories. For better or worse, we might be using those applications to offer the vision of the world of our own in a specific manner, or even to stupefy our audience.

The research of epigenetics demonstrates that our experiences can be permanently andheritably transforming our DNA. It actually means that things we experience, like the feeling of loss, can change the way next generations are wired.

2. It delays the “IRL” meetings

People can be delaying or accelerating the moment of meeting up simply to extend or somehow dispel the fantasy. The point is, when we are single, there might only be our imagination and blurred ideas regarding our next possible date, still it’s actually pretty difficult to confront the variable of some other person and their influence on you, so the transition itself can be complicated enough.

Oursubliminal fears and motives surroundthe dating stem from our personal experience. Simply put, experienced daters might intuitively know how to rule out a bad match right away, while inexperienced ones may choose to “drag out the dream a bit longer.”

3. Not forgetting the convenience

Meeting somebody new is supposed to be a totally fresh and unique experience in itself. The look, the spark, the mutual affection between two people – all these define the earliest stages of the romantic relationship.

In the recent years, technology has made the whole process pass faster and people to spend as less time as possible searching for the match. We all want dating to work around our lives and daily chores in a time saving way.

4. Choices

If you like someone and they don’t really like you, well, in that caseyou’re free to move on to the next one. Today people using online dating services are not afraid of failure simply because for every rejection you can get two or even three new matches. This is exactly the kind of game you can keep playing on and on until you win. There are many people out there who could make a perfect match with you. So why limit yourself to only one match when you already have 10?

5. The dating game in general

Do you know how your parents met? Back in the day people would first meet one another on blind dates having their mutual friends to introduce them. However, with the rise of social media it became quite difficult to ever imagine anyone attending a blind date again—why would they even do that?

Even ten years ago, most people would look forward to going on the weekend getaway with their friends just so they could meet a new batch of guys/ladies to woo.