Online Relationships

Anna Hernandez 
CAS 283
Blog 2 

   
           While sitting in lecture on a wednesday afternoon, I was listing to my professor speak about online relationships and socializing online. I became intrigued at this topic, due to the simple fact that this is something I have engaged in before. Not to get too personal, but I guess you could say I am in an "online relationship". I am dating my high school sweetheart who lives across the country. We make the distance work by calling, texting and video chatting. I would say, if it wasn't for those technologies, we would not be together. As Professor Jackson stood in front of the class discussing how online relationships are more interactive than ones face to face and how people who met online were more likely to marry, I looked back at how my relationship started and if what she was saying applied to my situation. I noticed that even though we had met face to face initially, we used online communication to do most of our interacting. In fact we hardly ever talked at school. Because of this, I implied to myself that if it weren't for the constant chat rooms and instant messaging, I would not be where I am today in my relationship. I am sure many can relate to the things that I had just mentioned. One concept that was talked about was the fact that online relationships were so effective and almost the same as relationships that were face to face. While I quickly judged that statement, I then took a minute to step back and analyze. I believe that we do get excited when our crush messages us, or when you spend several hours talking on the phone with someone. I understand the hype that everyone is talking about and it is some what due to the fact that we are not physically there with that person, so it leaves all the non verbals to be left to our imagination. For example, the tone in which the context was said. This can also have a negative effect however, because without being able to identify the persons tone of voice and facial expressions, we can not identify if the context has genuine meaning. In Psychology Today, the article mentions several pros and cons of online dating. Mentioned in the article as well is the unlimited opportunity of choices as well as the fall back of it becoming overwhelming. The communication perceived online may not be what would have happened in a face to face scenario. In my situation however, I was able to apply what was happening online into face to face communication and it made my relationship much stronger. One thing that I use often and really enjoy is video chatting. This is because I can see and hear the communication as if I was face to face even though I am only talking to am image of what is real. Overall, online relationships in this day in age do work, just be careful of all of the wrongs that can happen in between.
Nicholson, Jeremy. Psychology Today.April 30th, 2014. February 11th, 2014. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-attraction-doctor/201404/pros-and-cons-online-dating