Hooking Up on the Internet

710 Words3 Pages
Hooking up on the Internet . RESEARCH QUESTION The meaning of dating changes with geography and with time from one historical period to another. The authors focus was the dynamics of internet dating, a method of dating on the internet in the hopes of developing a romantic relationship. The author conducted this research to find out why people chose to date online, what aspects of face-to-face relations are reproduced, and the rationales and strategies Internet daters use to negotiate and manage problems of risk accompanying the technology. . THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE . Exchange Theory Lawson and Leck interviewed various people and asked them questions such as, why they choose to date online, how they do it, and what methods they use. For example, Reid, said “The Internet is a place where people can take risks without consequences, and experiment with people you normally wouldn’t meet or get involved with”. Another participant, Lisa, said “I don’t use chat rooms anymore. They are filled with a vast bastion of people looking for absolutely nothing. They are “players”. . Idealism The authors of this article did a lot of qualitative research on why individuals decide to date online. They interviewed people who were personally accessible, such as coworkers, acquaintances, and students. It was composed of 32% students, 24% business and clerical workers, 14% trade workers, and 14% professionals and semiprofessionals (Henslin 40). They interviewed the same amount of men and women because they wanted to compare gender variables in a balanced sample. Two men and one woman were gay, two women and one man were African American, and six men and seven women were the parents of young children. . Symbolic Interactionism One of the symbols used in this article is the slang Internet daters use while they type. There are many reasons why they use slang, for some
Open Document