It wasn’t that long ago that the vast majority of relationships sprang from in-person encounters. When seeking romantic partners, singles would simply keep their eyes open at parties, bars, work, and social events, interacting with others while waiting patiently for a sign of sparks. Online dating was considered taboo, and the few people who had accounts on the handful of dating sites available typically kept this fact to themselves.

Flash forward 15 years later. Today, online dating has become the bedrock of America’s dating scene, with one in 10 adults averaging more than an hour on dating websites each day. It’s even more popular with younger users, with one in five adults aged 25 – 34 reporting to have used some kind of online dating service.

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Have you heard about how 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce? Or that this frighteningly high divorce rate is still climbing? Watch news programs and relationship shows, and you’ll hear “facts” like this trotted out again and again.

But here’s the thing: they’re not true.

When pundits wave those 50 percent numbers in your face to prove a point, they’re actually using statistics that are decades old and have little bearing on the actual numbers of today. In fact, The New York Times recently did a story on how divorce rates have been falling steadily since the ‘90s. According to the article, if this trend continues, 63 percent of those who got married in the 2000s will never divorce – a number that would make a great argument for marriage in America being stronger than it has been in decades. Read more