The "digital age" often is knocked for its impersonality -- and for very good reason. Take love letters. Once they were an exquisite art form, lovingly crafted on reams of decadent paper. Today they largely are abandoned for e-mail and terse, thumb-typed instant messages:
"HT, QT. HAND. SYS. BG. BFN." (Translation: "Hi there, Cutie. Have a nice day. See you soon. Big grin. Bye for now.")
And who, these days, doesn't know self-important saps who spend more time blabbing into their mobile phone than they do gazing tenderly into the eyes of the person they're actually with?
Yet some researchers say technology is bringing couples together. Some people are communicating affection by taking steps such as transforming their DNA into art or spicing up their sex lives through more frequent, spontaneous and personal interaction.
The more intimate the relationship, the more technology people typically use to maintain it, says Keith Hampton, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communications.
Hampton's own studies have focused on thousands of neighborhood Web sites, which have been proven to enhance community relations. Neighbors linked by e-mail and the Internet tend to socialize in person more than those who aren't, he says. They often have a heigh-tened sense of safety and solidarity.
"It's not unreasonable to think technology would [create] similar dynamics in a romantic relationship," Hampton says.
Gadgets, gizmos and other tech props can be a lot of fun as long as they don't get in the way of people "making love in the real sense," observes Dr. Ramona Reed, a psychiatrist in private practice in Arvada, Colorado. "And I don't mean just having intercourse. I mean looking at and listening to each other face to face."
Cheri Collins, owner of Singles Marketplace in Denver, agrees that personal contact works better. "When you are communicating any other way, it is much easier to misrepresent yourself (intentionally or not). Also, when people are constantly connected to technology in their work lives, they are looking for a break from that in their personal lives.
"Ipod just announced that they will be offering profiles for singles -- you can browse while standing in line at the grocery store," Collins writes in an e-mail. "It'll be interesting to see how that works out -- personally, I think your chances of meeting your partner in the produce section are better!"
But DNA11.com, a Canadian company, says DNA technology can be a very personal expression of love. Your unique genetic markers -- as well as those belonging to the one you love -- can be magnified and printed in bold colors on canvas. Couples are buying images of their genetic codes and displaying them alongside canvases showing off their children's DNA, says company co-founder Adrian Salamunovic.
The company -- which offers art ranging from US$390 to US$1,300 -- is about to sell its 1,000th piece of art since opening in July, he says.
"We're providing people with a unique expression of intimacy, commitment and love," he says. "It's a beautiful representation of you presented in a way that you would never get to see it -- without committing a major crime, of course."
Those who want to use technology more sassily might turn to Georgia Payne, a dominatrix spanking the behinds of men in Los Angeles, and her best friend, freelance writer Julie Taylor. The two women teamed up to write How to Be a Dominant Diva, a book offering step-by-step instructions for 69 games sure to shake up anyone's love life. Many of the games require the use of technology to, um, score.
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