According to a study, more than a third of recent marriages got their start thanks to the internet. It’s to be expected really, since technology has increasingly become such a big part of our everyday lives. These days, who doesn’t have constant access to the internet?

Caitlin Moldvay, a dating industry senior analyst for IBISWorld (a market research firm based in Santa Monica, California) pretty much says that this was bound to happen.

“Societally, we are going to increasingly meet more of our romantic partners online as we establish more of an online presence in terms of social media. I do think mobile dating is going to be the main driver of this growth.”

Researchers surveyed nearly 19,000 individuals that were married between 2005 and 2012. It turns out, a lot of the relationships that were started online see happier couples who are less likely to split, over relationships that were started traditionally offline.

It was also discovered that the percentage of married couples who met online is nearly 35% of those polled. To break it down, about 45% of those who met online did so through an online dating site, while the rest met in chat rooms, instant messaging platforms, social networks and online forums.

This is all great news, but it turns out the research was funded by none other than eHarmony. The company behind the dating site eHarmony actually paid Harris Interactive $130,000 to conduct the research. This information was actually listed in the conflict of interest statement for the study.

Social psychologist Eli Finkel of Northwestern University in Evanston seems to think the research is hardly indicative of which dating method is better.

“It’s a very impressive study, but it was paid for by somebody with a horse in the race and conducted by an organization that might have an incentive to tell this story.

Does this study suggest that meeting online is a compelling way to meet a partner who is a good marriage prospect for you? The answer is ‘absolutely, [but it is] premature to conclude that online dating is better than offline dating.”

Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain- more and more couples are meeting online and it’s leading to marriage. That can’t be a bad thing, unless of course a lot of those marriages are ending in failure. According to the research above, a majority of couples that meet online are happy.

I met my girlfriend online and we’re happier than ever. Do you care? probably not. However, I can attest to the fact that meeting online can be good. That’s not to say it can’t be bad. We all know the dangers of the internet, don’t we?

[via USA Today]