Dating & Intimacy Online

Pascoe describes the use of technology by young adults as part of their romantic lives in a way that it is integrated into their everyday lives. Do you think the use of online dating sites can also be considered as a normal part of everyday life? Why/why not?

Young adults 'perform' their relationships. The online world gives young adults a wider audience and more access to their friends. Dating, friendships, flirting for a teen need a certain amount of feedback for them to find where their relationship sits within their world. We as adults,  think of intimacy practices as private however, teen dating behaviour is often public and collaborative. (Pascoe, 2009). Social Network Sites, instant messaging, mobile phone usage tends to feed this public behaviour.

Generally, an adult has already established their place within their social group. When using online dating they are looking to meet someone new and unconnected to their established ties, the opposite to what a teen primarily does online. I think that it is this that prevents online dating being considered a normal part of everyday life. Online dating is definitely an accepted way to find someone to date, however, meaningful relationships forming are not the norm. They do happen and many people have successful relationships from meeting online, but did they meet from an online dating site or from a community of like minded people gathering online i.e gaming, gardeners anonymous. Becoming intimate with someone who already shares many of your views is attractive.
Interestingly, on intimacy, a person with high self-esteem is more likely to use online dating than a person with low self-esteem according to research from psych central.com. They found that as it is in the offline world, a person with low self-esteem is not as willing to put themselves out there.




references:
Pascoe, C.J. (2009). Intimacy in Mizuko, I et. al. Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media.


http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/07/23/who-uses-internet-dating/