The Dangers of Online Dating

1619 Words4 Pages

The human need for affiliation creates the challenges and rewards of finding acquaintances, forming close friendships, as well as intimate relationships. Through technological advances cyberspace, or the internet, has become a place of multiple opportunities for people to be able to fulfill that need for affiliation. Websites, chat rooms, and online communities are just some examples of virtual platforms for people to seek others, come together, and find that special someone. These opportunities can result in positive outcomes allowing people to achieve what or whom they were seeking, but they can also result in harm to themselves and others, resulting with damaging consequences. Cyberspace does not come with a warning label. People who use the internet as a means to seek relationships are at risk of being exposed to positive as well as negative results. Being made aware of some of those risks and dangers, and realizing that forming relationships on the internet is not all fun and games, may be ways to help promote a positive future for cyberspace as a place to form successful relationships. New Ways of Enhancement There are many positive sides to forming relationships via the internet. Online communities may offer a safe environment for the user to feel welcome and among peers due to commonalities between themselves. Using the internet to form relationships may benefit the user by providing mental stimulation, an increase in self esteem due to receiving praise from others, and by comparing oneself to others (Zywica & Danowski, 2008, p.8). Individuals may feel isolated from society wether it be due to their sexuality, likes, or dislikes, and the virtual world is an area they do not feel like they have to conform to certain ... ... middle of paper ... ...erests lean more toward “visually oriented” online sexual activities (Daneback, Cooper, and Mansson, 2005, p. 321). This supports the presence of gender differences in cyberspace as well as offline. Conclusion Wether people find what or whom they are looking for in cyberspace may rely on the individual themselves. With technology advancing every day the internet as a platform for forming relationships is advancing as well. With an ever growing community of online users, relationships formed in cyberspace will become more frequent and hopefully encourage further research on the matter. During my research I found it particularly difficult to locate information regarding women who engage in cybersex activities as well as “sexting”. As women find empowerment in other aspects among societal norms, sexual empowerment via cyberspace relationships would seem likely.

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