Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

How did you come to know your girlfriend or boyfriend? Is online dating a possible answer? The China Youth Daily, recently published the results of a survey conducted with 2,114 respondents. It shows that 73.1 percent met online friends. Another 29.9 percent of respondents became friends in reality, or fell in love with their internet friends after meeting in person. Most of us live busy and stressful lives. Working overtime seems to have become normal, especially for those living in a major metropolis. People exhausted when arriving home after commuting in an overcrowded subway for long distances. Little time or energy is left for us to engage in offline social activities to get to know new friends or partners. In this context, online dating has become one popular way for us to distract from loneliness. There is also an interesting phenomenon happening. A growing number of people are tending to share their innermost thoughts and feelings with strangers online, instead of their close friends in real life. And it has thus made it easy for some to find like-minded friends - even future partners!