It’s no secret that, these days, most people have a Facebook or Twitter account. Some people utilize the efficiency of the Internet for dating – and even sex. The Internet is the one of the biggest inventions in history and has changed everyone’s life for the better, right? Not so much. These sites are helping build a wall that blocks us from real life experiences, including dating.

The recently launched CloudGirlfriend.com is a site where people can create an online profile and have a fantasy relationship. They can even make more than one. The “fantasy” significant others are men and women who are paid to interact with the users. Calling itself a mix between “Match.com and SecondLife.com,” the site claims to define your ideal self by finding your perfect mate as if he or she existed. Along with finding yourself, the site also claims to teach you how to manage a real relationship.

In the bigger scheme of things, how do sites like this really help to better yourself as a person?

The Internet has made it so easy to hide behind a computer screen and hope for the best. It has taken away from the rewarding experience of actually putting yourself out there and meeting people face to face. You can’t experience the strong emotional highs and lows of a real organic relationship if you never build the courage to actually have one.

Just reading about a relationship or, in this case, having a fake one online, does not lay the strong foundation needed to grow and understand who you are in a relationship and what you really want in a partner. It’s similar to taking three years of Spanish classes and not actually learning anything until you visit Spain to speak with the locals.

It all starts by putting yourself out there and building your confidence bit by bit. Once that confidence is built and you start to date, you will learn what you want in someone and what you don’t.  These realizations take time, experience and growth. Spending a night chatting with an imaginary girlfriend will not do the trick. Not only is she fake, but she’s also getting paid to interact with you.

Life is about taking chances and testing yourself. The easier technology makes our lives, the less our soul matures. What some people fail to realize is what they could experience if they weren’t in a trance via computer. Who knows, it could land you a hot date.

So close your laptop, dump your “cloud girlfriend,” and go find yourself a real person to love.