Computer love, bed seduction, data dates

Abstract

The German electronic quartet, Kraftwerk, predicted the reality of online dating- the data date - almost four decades ago with the above humble yet weighty lines. TI1en came COVID, something I am sure even these renegade, techno prophets could not have anticipated. In 2020 the data date had now literally retreated to the bedroom. The song's line, 'another lonely night,' took on new meaning. Data dating became bed seduction for those on the hunt and trawling for online sex, closeness, and intimacy in its various forms. Kraftwerk's soft preaching about screens, loneliness, and different varieties of abstract love-made-real was now upon us: computer love. COVID times and dating apps had heralded a kind of digital, sexual profiteering to inoculate against alone time. This was all offered from the warmth and comfort of your favourite place to rest. Pillow talk had never before been so textual-sexual. Textuality sexuality. Bed seduction was made flesh, virtually available. People are out there. Lots of them. And they want to be close to others. To me. And they want sex. But there are screens in between. That three-letter word again: sex. We can do it, make it, create it, together. Baby. Again, that word: sex. Kraftwerk forecasted text sex before I got my first mobile phone in 2003. There are lots of women out there. And they want me. Now. At least for a time.