No matter how you choose to use technology and the internet, it's a tool that's being implemented in most of today's relationships. With the invention of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, it's now easier than ever to connect with other people online. This changes the whole playing field to how relationships can play out. Most of these changes are reflected throughout different generations.
Technology affects all sorts of relationships; new relationships, long-term relationships, and relationships within people of all ages. Technology affects different relationships in different ways, for example, according to Amanda Lenhart and Maeve Duggan, in their article Couples, the Internet, and Social Media, they go on to explain how "long-term couples tend to view and utilize technology quite differently compared with those who have been together for a shorter period of time." This is primarily due to generational differences, but at any age, technology plays a role in today's relationships.
In terms of serious relationships, it's reported that 45% of internet users aged 18-29 say that the internet has had an impact on their relationship, but only one out of ten internet users 65 and older agree. It's reported that younger adults tend to run into more issues with technology within their relationships in dealing with trust issues or stress about what their partner is doing online. In reported marriages of internet users, only 74% felt that the internet had an impact on their marriage, and that impact was still positive.
I think that this post is really interesting. Now that technology is so big in everyone’s life and how it is affecting their relationships is really interesting. I think that the stats that were given were also interesting because the older generations are not really having any problems with their relationships. The younger generations are really having a hard time juggling both their relationship and the use of technology. I think about what I posted and how video games could affect a relationship. There are jokes online about how Fortnite is breaking young couples up. I feel like I could see how people could lose trust in their partner because of technology. There is so much that a person could do on their phone and the other person doesn’t even know about it. I think that before times were much simpler and you didn’t worry about cheating on the internet. I feel like that is much more prominent because people have such easy access online. Also, there are now dating apps and social media where you can talk to anyone anywhere around the world. When you think about technology there is just so much that you can do on it. Also, people are spending so much more time on technology rather than talking and spending time with their significant other.
ReplyDeleteThis was an extremely interesting post! I loved reading all of the statistics in the Pew article that you attached and the question as a whole. It is interesting to see the evidence of how being online is changing relationships. One of the percentages that stuck out to me the most was that 25% of married cell phone users feel that their partner was distracted by their phone. Initially this stuck out to me because the percentage seemed a bit low, but I remembered that this is fundamentally describing 25% of all couples. This idea kind of freaked me out, to think about the lack of focused attention that we seem to have. We should be able to actually physically be with the person that we are with and be able to forget about our phones and social media. I even feel that this is a probably effecting all types of relationships. There are many times that I will be talking to one of my roommates and notice that they haven’t really been listening to me and that they have been scrolling through their timeline. Maybe if more people recognize that they are not balancing their use of technology they would be able to work on that.
ReplyDelete