“剩男”、“剩女”成为这个时代提及比较频繁的词汇。由于忙于工作或者学习，很多人被注上了“大龄”的标签。大家仿佛没有时间谈恋爱，没有时间出来约会，因为工作忙？因为时间太紧张？

由于上述现实，很多相亲交友的网站如雨后春笋般出现了。这给大部分大龄人士带来了方便，他们可以足不出户，哪怕是利用下午茶的时间就可以网上约会一个朋友，这比传统的相亲会更加节约时间，因而受到很多人的青睐呢！

Any lingering stigma about finding true love online seems to be fading, particularly among older adults, researchers found.

In a study of 175 newlywed couples scientists at Iowa State University said those who met through online dating agencies, or social networking sites, tended to be older than other couples who met through traditional ways offline.

They were also less likely to be marrying for the first time and had shorter courtships before tying the knot -- 18.5 months instead of 42 months.

"In many cases, there are real structural forces that encourage the support and use of these technologies," said Alicia Cast, an associate professor of sociology at the university.

"And one of them is just structural constraints on people's time -- such as people who have kids, or have full-time jobs, or work long or extensive hours," she added in a statement.

But the online spouses were as attractive, intelligent and had the same self-esteem levels of the offline couples.

Online dating agencies have gained in popularity and acceptability. A recent survey by Forbes.com that named New York as the best U.S. city for singles found it achieved the No. 1 position because it has more people with active online dating accounts than any other city in the country.

U.S.-based eHarmony, which launched in the United States in 2000, claims an average of 236 of its members marry every day in the United States as a result of being matched on the site.

eHarmony is also available in Canada, Australia and Britain.

Cast and her graduate assistant Jamie McCartney studied data on the couples over a three-year period. Twenty five couples in the study had met online.

"My understanding is that there are very few studies that have been able to simultaneously get access to a source of couples who met through more conventional means, along with those who choose to meet people online," said Cast.