Long(-ing)-Distance

I am so exhausted right now. After deciding on a date and time for our first official video chat, I patiently waited until 6:30a (California time-zone) and 9:30p (West Australia time-zone) to chat with The Boyfriend (or should I write 'The Fiancé'? Doesn't that sound a bit pretentious? Sidenote: What is it about that word that makes a person sound like they're bragging? See?
That's why I'm trying not to say it that often).

After the hour of configuration (the frustrating time spent trying to connect our computers to each other's web cam and hold a conversation without the software shutting down on us), we finally had a real conversation that felt like he wasn't thousands of miles away. We talked for about three hours last night/ this morning.

Later I realised that all of this technology, this new media, has been created to preserve the long-distance relationship. Think about it, international text messaging, video and audio online chat software, even the simple things like email and personal websites such as this one all benefit the long-distance relationship (which could use all the help it can get). This made me really thankful for the digital world.

This also got me wondering about relationships that are completely Internet-based. Is it really possible to have a successful digital relationship without ever having met in person? One of our friends met a really nice girl from Japan via video chat. The dated digitally for a while and then it just fell apart, I can't remember why. Do we really have to connect physically to have a meaningful and loving relationship? Or is it possible to have a real connection, digitally?