Exactly a year ago during lockdown in Singapore, I found myself in a position where I meaningfully connected with someone virtually and digitally first before actually meeting. Now again, I connected with someone virtually first and have only recently met thereafter (it went well )—it's becoming a pattern.

Lockdowns and travel restrictions have absolutely changed the way we date.

As a single person in lockdown, you often end up meeting your date in their intimate homes first, engaging in things (cooking, yoga) that feels a lot like being a married couple before going on a traditional date in a restaurant.

As someone in a (married) relationship, you end up spending a lot of time with your partner. For some, this turns out to be a way to bond more deeply. For some others, they may just get lucky and realize much quicker that they were not a good match...

People in long distance relationships, have had to muster a lot of patience with travel restrictions, and for long periods of time they could only build their relationship on virtual grounds—and like in my case, people end up being digital companions.

I keep on wondering whether the expectation of what constitutes a relationship is actually shifting: 

From a traditional relationship, where the man works and the woman is a housewife over to a modern relationship, where both work and strive for their goals, and need to coordinate their lives and locations to now a virtual relationship, where the relationship is stripped down to communication and thought companionship.  

Our current state (=pandemic) reminds me a lot of the movie HER, a movie about a guy who falls in love with a "siri-like" voice (sexy Scarlet Johansson at play)....