From arranged marriage, blind dates, marriage agencies, to meeting like-minded people on ICQ, forums then dating apps. Our ways of dating have evolved amid our changing needs.
Thanks to technological advancement, it has allowed us the luxury of having multiple diverse tools for exploring different intimate relationships, offering us not just convenience and autonomy with online dating, but also more personalized features for efficiency, especially for some goal-oriented app users who are keen to check their bucket lists. A new dating culture has been created organically via digital transformation, but it’s also being shaped and driven by users from time to time.
However, such freedom comes with a cost too. Let me take you through with this blog post.
“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” — Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan (Marshall McLuhan, 1964) believed that the nature of the medium that was being used to send a message was more significant than the actual content, as it influences how the message is being interpreted.
Speaking of the famous quote “Medium is the message”, there is no other classical footage than seeing Carrie Bradshaw get broken up on a Post-it, like she said “not even over the phone”! In the old days (like this footage of OMG20 years ago!), we have to meet the person to break the bad news, or at least a phone call. What about now?
It’s socially accepted that everyone has multiple online identities, and for most dating apps there’s no identity verification. It means that we can take less responsibility or even no consequences for our behaviors. Let’s see how much you can relate to this situation…
No response is a response?
When things go bad in a relationship, first we’re left on read, and you struggle to define a reasonable length of time to reply to a text message. After 2-3 days with no reply, you wonder if you’ve already been ghosted by that person (screaming I thought things are going well between us!).
Finally, you get disappointed after Googling the color and numbers of a freaking tick! Oops… you’re blocked, from messaging to other social accounts.
That’s yet the worst case. Ones could even find out your digital footprint by online stalking, or even change the logins and passwords of your social accounts, from exposing your private information or footages, to spreading fake news as a revenge. Even if you’re not an artist like LeeHom Wong, your career can be sabotaged with intimate photos being exposed without consent.
The ways we handle relationships are so different now, we use dating app as a new tool, and thus we create a brand new dating culture.
The above harmful things could kill a person mentally, or even physically who chooses to end their lives.
Some argue that technological determinism has turned dating tools into dating weapons, should we blame technology for making us indifferent in dating? Leave us your comment!
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