Social Media and Dating and Relationships

2189 Words9 Pages
Introduction/Background In today’s society, the realities of the virtual world and the real world have merged. With increasing innovations in technology, the virtual world has become the new and popular space to conduct businesses, network and even dating. Some people are even getting married online, using websites such as Second Life to do so. Technology can impact real world relationships, both negatively and positively, and the divide between the virtual world and the real world is narrowing. Understanding how to best use both the real world and the virtual landscape could help strengthen our current relationships, whilst paving the way for new ones. Research Aim/Objective The objective of this study is to compare the quality of real world relationships with virtual relationships, and also further comparing between the Asian and Western communities. Research Questions 1) How does the use of social media influence interpersonal relationships? 2) Do business relationships work better in the real world or virtual world? 3) Does the virtual world affect the degree of closeness in real world relationships? 4) Does the virtual world accurately reflect the real world? Research Problem In a situation where technology is rampant, virtual lives would undoubtedly merge or collide with real life relationships, resulting in interpersonal relationships that could have stemmed from the virtual landscape. However, does the decrease in the face-to-face and more personal course of interactions affect the quality of relationships, or do they serve to enhance the relationships instead? As such, this increases the relevance of our research project in order to understand how to best use the reality and virtual landscape that could help strengthen our current relationships, whilst paving the way for new ones. With today’s society being increasingly
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