Online dating has become a part of searching for partner in every-day life. Some statistics says that in 2006 18% of all users of internet in Europe have visited online dating site. And this is about 38,2 million users. (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1010) And in UK every month 7 million singles visited a dating site in 2009. This is a 27% increase of the year 2008. (you can find more statistics about internet dating for all over the world here) So online dating is a fast growing industry which has become approved and normal way of meeting new people.
Popularity of internet and new technologies on the market of partnerships and marital status has several social causes. There are changes in intimate relationships and private sphere like for example reduced social regulation of intimate life and sexuality, there is also transformation of intimacy, phenomena of pure relationship and plastic sexuality. Also changes in labor sphere have consequences on changed setting for singles. There is less free time because of the more and more working hours so single people do not have time for "traditional" meeting of potential partners. Also process of individualization and demands of reflexive project on the self, globalization and other changes have impact on more and more used online dating. sites And this kind of dating can have several positive sides but it also involves taking risks.
Some would say that internet and computer mediated communication is successful in dating because there are reduced nonverbal cues so the real personality is more important than the looks. And in this kind other factors which are important for relationship come in foreground like affinity, contact, reciprocal self-disclosure and emotional intimacy. In that way people are also liberated of social roles of gender so personality has more impact on meeting the "right" person. But trust is still the main factor of successful search and if we believe statistics (58% of Europeans have been victims of online dating dishonesty. Italians at 72%, Germans at 58%, French and British at 55%, and Dutch at 48%) online dating sites are not anymore the new environment in which "true love" can be found. Singles who use dating sites, 33% form a relationship, 33% do not, and 33% give up on dating online.
So online searching for love is not so perfect like some authors (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006; Hardey 2004; Ben-Ze'ev 2004) are suggesting. But like the latter author is underlining, this kind of searching for partner has other consequences like social integration and social contacts. And in this way people can satisfy inner human need and this is free communication. So like almost every act on internet is in the direction of communication also searching for love is just the satisfaction of social integration.
Sources:
- Ben-Ze’ev, Aaron. 2004. Flirting on and offline. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 10 (1): 24-42.
- Ellison, Nicole B., Rebecca D. Heino in Jennifer L.Gibbs. 2006a. Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11 (2): 415-441.
- Hardey, Michael. 2004. Mediated relationships: Authenticity and the possibility of romance. Information, Communication & Society 7 (2): 207-222.
Popularity of internet and new technologies on the market of partnerships and marital status has several social causes. There are changes in intimate relationships and private sphere like for example reduced social regulation of intimate life and sexuality, there is also transformation of intimacy, phenomena of pure relationship and plastic sexuality. Also changes in labor sphere have consequences on changed setting for singles. There is less free time because of the more and more working hours so single people do not have time for "traditional" meeting of potential partners. Also process of individualization and demands of reflexive project on the self, globalization and other changes have impact on more and more used online dating. sites And this kind of dating can have several positive sides but it also involves taking risks.
Some would say that internet and computer mediated communication is successful in dating because there are reduced nonverbal cues so the real personality is more important than the looks. And in this kind other factors which are important for relationship come in foreground like affinity, contact, reciprocal self-disclosure and emotional intimacy. In that way people are also liberated of social roles of gender so personality has more impact on meeting the "right" person. But trust is still the main factor of successful search and if we believe statistics (58% of Europeans have been victims of online dating dishonesty. Italians at 72%, Germans at 58%, French and British at 55%, and Dutch at 48%) online dating sites are not anymore the new environment in which "true love" can be found. Singles who use dating sites, 33% form a relationship, 33% do not, and 33% give up on dating online.
So online searching for love is not so perfect like some authors (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006; Hardey 2004; Ben-Ze'ev 2004) are suggesting. But like the latter author is underlining, this kind of searching for partner has other consequences like social integration and social contacts. And in this way people can satisfy inner human need and this is free communication. So like almost every act on internet is in the direction of communication also searching for love is just the satisfaction of social integration.
Sources:
- Ben-Ze’ev, Aaron. 2004. Flirting on and offline. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 10 (1): 24-42.
- Ellison, Nicole B., Rebecca D. Heino in Jennifer L.Gibbs. 2006a. Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11 (2): 415-441.
- Hardey, Michael. 2004. Mediated relationships: Authenticity and the possibility of romance. Information, Communication & Society 7 (2): 207-222.
I've never searched for love online, I was never in online relationship either but I believe that you can find your love, the person for your life online as well. As Tanja pointed out, and I agree with her, the popularity of new technologies and every day use of it for different purposes, the changes in intimate relationships and private sphere, plus the transformation of intimacy, the changes of labor sphere and the growing individualization, all these consequences surely contributed to the more frequent use of online dating – and not only among youth. Here I want to mention that also the low self esteem has played a significant role – because you can be what you are online, but nobody can really know how you look. You can present you the way you want and in your real light without prejudice, and when other person gets to know you, the looks doesn’t play that significant role anymore. You can first build a trusting relationship and then step ahead and reveal your true person. But here I want to mention that these online relationships make sense, for me, only if they predict that once in the future the two people involved in this relationship will meet face to face and upgrade this virtual relationship with real presence.
ReplyDeleteI would like to present another point of view. New technologies, which are not so new after all, provide a great chance to maintain relationaships of any kind. I am a bit skeptical about building relationships online, but when it comes to maintainance of them, I can say that Internet can solve many problems.
ReplyDeleteThere a great lack of time, there is distance because of the work, but with online communication interaction can be held on.
Building intimate relationships online from the start can be dangerous because of the anonimity or privacy issues. Or maybe not.