Should you date someone from the same planet?

In decades gone by, the big question used to be: Should you date someone in the office? The traditional wisdom being No, you should not, because:

1. Other people in the office will find out (sooner or later) and it could be embarrassing.

2. It upsets the balance of power. If you're a manager and you date one of your direct reports, "favoritism" becomes an issue. Even if you're peers, it upsets the perceived relationships of the two of you with coworkers. No one knows if they can tell you something in confidence without it leaking to your partner. (Etc.)

3. If you eventually break up, you have to stare your ex-partner in the face every day at work. Highly uncomfortable (potentially).

So the usual advice is: Don't date someone who works in the same office where you do. But that's no longer logical. In a world of constant connectivity, we're all in the same virtual office, all the time. Think about it. Everyone you work with (whether they work from home, come in to an office, or whatever) has e-mail, most are probably on Facebook or Twitter (or both), etc. People Tweet stuff or IM stuff without you even knowing about it. Pretty soon it becomes clear that the world is a very small place indeed. The world is your office, my friend.

So don't worry about dating someone in the office. Your office is planet Earth. The question is whether you should date someone from Mars.