I am just puzzled by the issue. We have all been connected through internet. But i am still wondering why is it difficult for people to consider starting long term relationships with people from the other side of the world. Should we keep our focus to those who are only closer to us...

The difficulty isn't in considering it, that's easy. The difficulty is in maintaining it, as there are a lot of factors involved.

Most want to be able to actually meet the person, and eventually have the distance go away, which means someone has to relocate.

There's a lot of risk in establishing a long distance relationship with someone who you might not meet for several months or longer. One could easily get start caring after months of communicating and suddenly the other one disappears, leaving the site. So unless there's a little more reassurance, not many are willing to take that risk.

It is possible though, if both are committed and the other factors, including financial means of visiting each other, are present.

near or far there's always a challenge.. if it's worth it, why not give it a try.. love knows no distance when you truly love each other distance doesn't matter

near or far there's always a challenge.. if it's worth it, why not give it a try.. love knows no distance when you truly love each other distance doesn't matter

Same reason why clothing retailers haven't completely gone out of business, and online retailers generally have to have extremely liberal return policies with clothing.

People generally prefer the direct visceral experience in making decisions.
Also, most (especially interpersonal relationship) communication isn't what comes from the mouth or fingertips but indirectly through things like body language, facial expression, tone, situational context, witnessing consistent experience.
Things that are missing in impersonal means of communication like email, IM, text, and phone.

Not to mention "other side of the world" generally means "different culture, values, language, and emotional associations."

Or if you want you can make a similar argument as when people ask "so why are you still single?"
"So why do you need to go halfway across the world, bypassing the millions to billions of people in between, to find someone?"
Or "what's wrong with you that no one local, those that deal with you every day, is really trying very hard to be in a relationship with you?"

If that's what you wish, by all means. Travel. Go forward. Meet people.

Relationships are a lot of work. Long distance adds difficulty points to an already challenging yet rewarding situation. Hope this helps.

This