First love

From Dar

"First love" refers to the theory that people have a tendency to retain a bias or preference towards internet communication technologies or formats of whichever type they first used and gained a meaningful human experience from.

If the theory holds true, then it will explain why some people will put forward irrational arguments for the superiority of one platform over all others, regardless of the application. There would appear to be supporting evidence in the fanatical loyalty shown by some users of web services such as Flickr, 43things, livejournal and in others' almost exclusive use of only one of the generic forms such as bulletin boards, instant messaging or email groups. On the other hand, people who are technologically promiscuous may have entirely overcome 'first love' syndrome or perhaps retain it in a much reduced capacity.

(It's an idea which I have explained in conversation for some time now, but was first written down in November 2005 here. --Andy Roberts 21:43, 2 December 2005 (GMT))

I have heard this decribed as the 'mother hen' syndrome. Bonding to what you first see when you come out of the egg. (Derek)