The week mostly focused on online dating and the dynamics that it entails. Scams that occur as a result of interactions through online dating sites do happen. The ABC news report showed some cases of that. My point of view and, from what my reading of other posts on the topic, what seemed to be the view of the majority of the students, was that scams are a possible hazard of dating sites. However, I believe that they are perceived to occur more than they actually do. The people that were scammed in the report could have avoided the scams if they did not willingly give their information of money to a person that they had never met. Incidents like this bring the question of how safe is online dating. The homemade documentary asked for the perspective of a younger crowd on this issue. Some saw online dating as potentially dangerous. The documentary did a good job of showing both the potential positives and potential negatives of online dating. In the end, online dating was not successful for the twenty-four year old male conducting the research but was successful for older couples that may not have access to many people their age. "Down the rabbit hole" dove a little deeper into who uses dating sites versus virtual communities. The article explored the different intents of visiting different sites and how users are signalling that intent by subscribing to them. It also discussed where the majority (at least for the eighty-two couples studied) long term relationships spawned that began on the internet. This article was, by far, the most informative and I thought the most interesting article to date. The "Expectations of finding a Soul Mate with Online Dating" sparked quite a bit of debate on the discussion thread. I did not focus on the "soul mate" aspect much at first. Instead, I was intrigued by the researchers conclusion that online daters were quite conservative and probably proportional close offline daters in their perception of the likely hood of their being a perfect someone "out there" and their ability to find them if there is. The articles flowed nicely into each other. It was quite rewarding to discover that many of the questions that a previous article had led me to construct in my mind were answered in the next article.
Many of my discussions with other students about the relevancy of scams in regards to online dating continuously ended in the majority of the blame being placed on the person being scammed. The subjects of the ABC report gave out personal information or money to someone that they had never met. That is not to say that it would be any better if they had met them but to the majority of my classmates and I it seems like common sense not to do it with someone that we had never met. These discussions gradually led me to contemplate whether or not online daters were just the most desperate to find love and, therefore, easier prey for scam artists. I put myself in the shoes of a scam artist and found that I saw the dating sites in much the same way that I would if I was using it to find a mate. Just as dating sites provide potential daters with a larger pool to fish from it provides that same pool for scam artists. My contemplation was that it seems like the people that get taken by online scams are just as likely to be taken if approached by a scam artist offline. Therefore, the only increased danger is that those that are more apt to be less cautious with their money and information are more accessible to scam artists on dating sites.
"Down the rabbit hole" and "Expectations of Finding a Soul Mate with Online Dating" answered a lot of the questions that I had arisen from my thoughts on the earlier articles. First, I questioned the marketing of online dating sites in a discussion with Anthony. We both concluded that part of the negative perception of dating sites is because they market themselves in way that implies, or overtly states, that there is a perfect person "out there" and that they can find them for you. For one thing, if their is a perfect person "out there" they would have to be a member of that particular site for it to match you with them. Secondly, as the article on expectations of finding a soul mate showed, people do not necessarily think that their is a "soul mate" "out there" but instead people that are more highly compatible than others.(Houran and Lange p.303) The research by Houran and Lange also showed that "there is little evidence that online daters' attitudes toward online dating distorted the anticipated quality and quantity of their computer dates."(p. 303) That conclusion later led me to a portion of my research question: does perceived quality of online education have a significant positive correlation. But also, that statement implies that the statistics derived from this research could, quite likely, be very similar to the same research if conducted on people that responded that they would not use online dating sites. I then came to the conclusion that the marketing of dating services was probably not at fault for creating the negative perception.
I began to think of virtual communities as the new bars and coffee shops. I discussed this with some of my classmates and received mixed replies. Some thought that could be the case and actually thought that whole generations may turn to online interaction to satisfy their social desires. I did not agree. My reply was that although the popularity of these sights seems to be on the rise as the taboo of them is being washed away, they are only attractive to certain groups of people. As the homemade documentary that was assigned earlier in the week showed, certain sites fill certain niches. For those that attend college or have jobs that allow for a fair amount of socialization with people of similar age, which according to the Pew research on online dating account for the starting point of 38% couples that are internet users and in a married or committed relationship, their is not a great appeal to subscribe to dating sites.( Madden and Lenhart p. 6) Also interesting was the type of sites that produced the most long term committed relationships. chat groups or online games. The final third were from discussion boards, posting asynchronously. "Combining the people at chats, games and discussion boards shows that nearly two-thirds of the couples met at VC’s."(Down the rabbit hole, no page numbers) This statistic led me, in part, to the earlier question; whether virtual communities were the new work and school. Also, I found it interesting that the sites that are entered with the implied intent of discussing personal interest with out the intent of meeting offline are producing two thirds of the long term relationships that were studied in the this research (which was only ninety-two).
I am a firm believer that if dating sites are used for the purpose of finding people to date they can be very beneficial for certain people. I am not a believer that they are a place people should carry on relationships. If users are carrying on intimate relationships online I think that it is social stunting. If the potential dater uses the site for a greater pool of dates I do not see a problem. As far as the negative perception of dating sites, I think that comes from misunderstanding and the emphasis of past news stories on scams.
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