Research Paper on How Technology has Altered Dating

How Technology Has Altered Dating
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How Technology has Altered Dating
The technological changes have brought about two main changes; Mobile phones and the Internet. These changes have transformed the manner in which young people connect and exchange ideas with others, including dating. Earlier, individuals have ignores pagers but the prevalence of new, more advanced devices have changed everything. For example, the adoption of smartphones means that young people are always contactable, the availability of various social media gives other the chance to know their partners before they met them, and dating applications give others the abundance of choice to decide the suitable partner(s). Therefore, this research paper explains how the adoption of technology has positively changed how youth engage and date although it brings about some challenges.
Literature Review
Walther (2008) developed the Social Information Processing Theory (SIPT) to explain social engagement and online dating. This theory explains how individuals know each other online without the use of nonverbal cues but through language and writing. Therefore, it is possible to cultivate satisfying relationships online through available cues from computer-mediated communication. Walther’s idea of hyperpersonal communication explains that sometimes people experience more intimacy in online sites than in offline engagements. This concept explains that online dating sites provide their users with a lot of information in profiles offering them a great deal on the person/partner before even meeting him/her. However, this theory fails to explain the online dating process, dating scripts, or even how the scripts are made. Therefore, the Script Theory can be used to provide a deeper insight into online dating.
According to Simon and Gagnon (1986), a script is “a metaphor for conceptualizing the production of behavior within social life,” (98). Script theory describes the processes followed by individuals in dating and its idea informs the manner in which sites for online dating may influence dating scripts of the member. People can use scripts to ensure their situations make sense and they guide their behavior. Scripts come in three levels: intrapsychic, interpersonal, and cultural scripts. Cultural scripts are guides to collective life instructing specific roles. Interpersonal scripting deal with adapting as well as shaping material obtained from cultural scenarios for behavior that specific to the content. Intrapsychic scripts represent the internal fantasies and dialogue of reality to achieve wishes.
According to Rosen et al. (2008), in online dating, interpersonal and cultural scripts are different. For example, a person heading for a first date with a partner from an online site has enough knowledge pertaining to specific things and their motivation is higher than in traditional dating. Hence, technology has changed the nature of intimacy and dating. The filter aspect of online dating partners and process has overtaken the aspect of ...