Explain how digital media is changing the way in which we forge romantic and sexual relationships.
Over the past few decades, the invention and expansion of the Internet introduced computer-mediated communication (CMC) which took the world by storm (Cornwell & Lundgren, 2001). Researchers from all over the world have explored and debated about the effects of the digitized world on emerging and existing romantic relationships. Researchers that adopt a positive perspective, believe that the internet has provided a platform for individuals to feel more liberated and to openly express themselves without worrying about being judged by the other person which can be felt in a face-to-face situation. Additionally, a few researchers state that the internet has drastically increased and improved the chances for people (even those individuals who encounter a thin dating market to meet potential romantic partners, such as homosexual and middle-aged heterosexuals), to meet and communicate with others with similar interests and ideologies outside of their pre-existing social networks (Rosenfeld & Thomas, 2012). The internet also allows many individuals an opportunity to explore and connect with other individuals over a large geographical with ease (Boase et al, 2006). Contrary to a few beliefs, some researchers believe that relationships formed online lack a personal and intimate touch that you often find in relationships that are formed offline or in a face-to-face situation (Whitty, 2008). Moreover, they believed that online life would dissolve the structure of life in a community, thus leaving individuals isolated and alienated (Boase & Wellman, 2006). Deception of identity and individual characteristics such as personality and physical characteristics can also be a major problem in online relationships. This paper shall underline and discuss the involvement of the internet in constructing and maintaining relationships. It will also touch upon how the internet have given a platform for individuals that face a thin dating market in the real world, a venue to meet other like-minded individuals. Lastly, this paper shall speak about the advantages of the internet when it comes to forming relationships and also some problems that can occur. This paper supports the perspective that cyberspace in many ways is liberating individuals and creating opportunities for people to interact and enhance relationships with others all around the world.
The fact that most individuals today use the internet to meet sexual and romantic partners has been supported before (Rosenfeld & Thomas, 2012; Madden & Lenhart, 2006; Couch & Liamputtong, 2008; Boase & Wellman, 2006), and it is not at all alarming. Only a few studies state that only a small percentage of individuals meet and form relationships with people online (Katz & Rice, 2002; Katz & Aspden, 1997) and declare that out of these most of the relationships that are formed won't measure up to real life relationships. Although we cannot deny that face-to-face relationships do have their advantages, studies conducted in this area have proven relationships that start online and continue to grow offline to be equally efficient (Park & Robert, 1998; Kendall, 2002). Rosenfeld and Thomas (2012) found that the self-reported relationship quality scores of couples who met online and continued their relationship offline were slightly higher than the self-reported couple scores of relationships that were formed in real space. Similarly, other researchers (Parks and Floyd, 1996; McKenna et al., 2002) found that relationships that were formed through online forums wished to meet their new friends or potential partners in person. From this, we can conclude that the internet aids in forming a venue for its users to potentially meet and establish new relationships. This can be highly observed in the lives of internet users who constitute of a thin dating market such as same-sex couples and middle-aged heterosexual couples. A study conducted found that in 2008 and 2009 more than 60% of the same-sex couples commenced their relationship online and are significantly less likely to meet through family, neighbours or in school (Rosenfeld & Thomas, 2012). Similarly, middle-aged men and women in their 30s and 40s who are a part of a thin dating market were more likely to find a partner online, because most of the people in the 30s and 40s were already partnered (Lever et al. 2008). Another study conducted to check the quality of relationships with 20,000 people who married in between 2005 and 2012, found that people who met their spouse online were more satisfied with their marriage as compared to couples who met by means of traditional routes (such as in a bar, at work, through family) first (Cacioppo et al. 2013). The same study reported that marriages were 25 percent more likely to last when the couples met online. This can be because, the internet allows you to create a profile of yourself and thus attracting individuals with similar interests and personality, therefore allowing both individuals to start off on a common ground rather than relying on the chemistry of the relationship. Moreover, individuals present outside your geographic area and social circle, in other words, ‘strangers’ are easily approached, which does not limit individuals in the thin dating market to meet possible partners through friends, family, and the neighborhood.