The appearance of computer-mediated communication has introduced a new type of discourse and consequently a new type of personal relationship has developed. There are various kinds of computermediated relationships that differ in some significant aspects: one-to-one or group communication formats, interrelating with real people or fantasy personas, interrelating with anonymous or identified people, and communicating in synchronous or asynchronous formats. Such types of communication can be text-based, voice-based, video-based, or a combination of any of these. My main concern is with those types of communication that facilitate romantic relationships. Foremost among such types are email, which is asynchronous text-based communication that can be one-to-one or one-to-many, and chat or instant messaging that allows for synchronous text-based communication, either one-to-one or many to-many. These types of communication take place between real people who, while not completely anonymous, may have not fully disclosed their identity: in most cases, you cannot see or hear the other person.

The interactive revolution in imagination

Cyberspace is a psychological and social domain. It is not tangible and some of its dimensions, such as distance, and location, are not measured by physical parameters, but by psychological content. This often imaginary reality is not limited to the private domain of a specific person; rather, it is shared by many people.