What is a soul mate anyway ?

What is a soul mate anyway ? It's been 2 years since my last blog. I used to use this usually as a means of venting, a type of 'last resort' thing. I always thought if all else fails and I couldn't speak my mind or figure things out, I'd talk to myself, virtually. Online.. if that makes sense? After all isn't most online communication just a reflection of the self? I recently found that the internet is a dangerous place. Anything can happen. You can get hurt, plan to kill somebody , get involved with the wrong people, get cyber bullied, or even worse.. you can fall in love. Then it got me thinking, what is it about falling in love with something you can't see, or reach that is so appealing? It's the fantasy. It's almost like having a relationship. Only with yourself. You get the time to write how you want to talk, prepare what you want to say and say it when you like it and in the comfort of your own home. If all dates where said in a comfortable place and we had time to think about what we wanted to say and even emoticons to help us express our feelings, I'm sure we'd love the dating experience. With society rapidly moving toward a vastly online communicative world, we base a lot of our online communication on social networking sites , such as Instagram, Facebook, twitter. This is why falling in love online got so easy, so appealing, so .. so , very beautiful. After all, we're in love with a fantasy right? we fill in the gaps in our own head, as to what they're suppose to say or how they'd sound or what they'd feel like. How is it possible to get so hurt over somebody blocking you on facebook or unfollowing you on twitter? When I was younger, falling in love was flowers, love letters in the mailbox and training each others Tamagotchis as a sign of affection. ''Can I call you later tonight, what's your home number?'' used to be the boys opening line in high school. Whatever happened to homophones anyway? Society grows, so does our technology, but therefore should we change with it? Should our love and seeking love be as easy as typing on a keyboard to a computer screen ? What happens when we get to real life? What happens when they hurt us? How do we vent the pain, if we haven't met them? Dealing with online communication is in a way dealing with your own self. You get to review and re read and re read what you wrote over and over again, you learn about yourself, or who you COULD be. After all don't we all put our best face forward on a date? why wouldn't or why couldn't a person portray their best face on the internet? .. it may be all lies, but who are we to say any different, right? This is where the problem lies. Quite literally, lies. There are so many chances for people to lie and fabricate and portray who they WANT to be online that it's so easily to think you found this 'soul mate' you've been searching for. For the prospective significant other, all he has to do is a little facebook stalking, get to see your 'likes', favorite music, bands, movies.. and pretend it's all a mere coincidence. It's an escape, one any person of any social demographic or psychological state can take to get away a little bit, perhaps get away from real life, their wife and three kids, their dead end job, or their lack of job. The internet is essential, virtual reality, so therefore virtual love is to be expected.