I read a fascinating article on the CNN website the other day entitled ‘How technology has changed romance’ and it got me thinking: is technology aiding romance, or hindering it?

I love to write books set in the 1970s and 1980s, and part of the reason for this is that those were more innocent, simple times. The pace of life was slower, and technology was much less prevalent in daily lives.

Consider how a modern romance may bring in technology and how this contrasts with ‘the olden days’:

• Checking out a potential partner via Facebook, rather than asking around
• Meeting via internet dating, rather than in person
• Chatting via FaceTime or on Skype, rather than in person
• Texting, rather than calling
• Emailing, rather than writing

Personally, I find a love letter, or a card, or a note much more romantic than a typed message conveyed via technology. I prefer to see a person than be in touch via text or email or on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter. There’s more magic, I think, in the traditional methods of courting.

But to condemn technology entirely is unfair. Any means of forming connections between people is to be celebrated, in a sense. And technology can foster romance in many ways. For example, many more people find partners with whom they share common interests thanks to technology, and the ability to keep in touch regularly – wherever you are – invites a close bond to form. You can even harness the power of technology to up your romance game; think of the man who sets an app on his phone to remind him of key romantic dates in the course of the year, so he remembers to bring home flowers on his anniversary.

Technology has its place, then, in our modern world. But it can be soulless and cold in feel, and it can also prove distracting, preventing couples from really being in the moment with each other.

I think that when it comes to creating a wonderfully warm, magical, heart-melting mood, you can’t beat a return to old-fashioned courting: a walk along a beach at sunset, a candlelit dinner, a jacuzzi at a health spa – with the phone and the laptop and the notepad switched off to allow some golden romantic time.