Online Dating Research

1435 Words3 Pages

Introduction
In the modern world, people are commonly expected to find their romantic partners on own initiative, a process that requires devoting significant effort, time, and ambiguity, as well as many associated heartbreaking process. As a result, it can be expected that people would be attracted to a new medium that offers the opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this process. The implementation of technology as a matter of fact has changed how we connect to each other and dating is no exception. As a matter of fact, in 2005–2012, 34.95% of Americans had met their spouses online (Ansari, Aziz; Klinenberg, Eric (2015-06-16). Modern Romance. Penguin Press) comparing to 1% of the population meeting partners through printed …show more content…

The development of online dating sites/apps has been a revolution in how we are finding our partners and indeed affecting the traits of the partner we are looking for. Before the influx of dating apps, where dating is restricted to face-to-face interaction, meeting our partner was pretty much resigned to colleagues, school, through friends or going out on a Saturday night which were the most common ways how our parents met each other. It is assumed that online dating sites and apps have fundamentally altered the game of dating for the better suggested by its significant growing number of users. Consequently, it leads to the question what is the fundamental difference between online dating and conventional offline dating and whether it is true that online dating promotes better romantic outcomes than conventional …show more content…

As such, the question lies whether having communication online (most online dating sites/apps offer channel to communicate with each other after there is a match, for example Tinder allows users to chat with each other after they both click each other as a match) is as effective as face-to-face interaction and foster intimacy and liking between strangers. In this connection, Walther (1994) in the context of social-information-processing theory (Walther, 1992; Walther, 1995), suggested that people communicate social information within the limitations of the medium. In other words, because humans are naturally social creatures, they will use the communicative tools they have at their disposal to connect with one another even in the absence of nonverbal and other socially relevant cues. For example, online users consider the social information inherent in the timing of responses (Walther & Tidwell, 1995): Fast comparing to slow texting responses communicates greater warmth and social support (Ledbetter, 2008). Social information can also be conveyed through emoticons (Derks, Bos, & von Grumbkow, 2007) as well as language style and word choice (Walther, Loh, & Granka, 2005). Nevertheless, Sherry Turkle (2012) contradictory stated that “we are changed as technology offer us substitutes for connecting

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