While we speak of being evolved and revolutionized, we often don’t acknowledge how our ways to express these very emotions and to feel them as well, have changed with time.
From the days that witnessed love growing in parks while playing with friends to the days that witnessed love growing with every profile, you scroll through, the idea of love is beyond just a feeling; it’s a concept that is often sold to us through technology as well.
Therefore, love in the age of the internet is like a commodity, because of which the idea of romance has also been commercialized, which is perceived and acted upon differently by different people.
What does finding love in the age of the internet feel like?
As mentioned above, the advancements made in technology have directly impacted our ideas of relationships, love and romance, for better or worse. So, for some, it may feel like a deal of exploration and having fun, and for others, it may also feel like a lack of instability in today’s time, where almost everybody is more inclined towards exploration rather than settling for once and for all.
The age of the internet has made sure that each of us has a fair chance at finding the ‘only one’. The dating application makes everyone and anyone a ‘potential partner’. Therefore, in some way, the internet gives people hope that they will find at least someone while they’re scrolling through profiles, left, right and centre.
But on the flip side, as much as hope it may give to certain people, it may also be scary for some, as the mere accessibility to start exploring your ‘options’ with one click adds a certain amount of uncertainty in people’s heads.
Apart from that, since the internet is all about what you see on the outside, the very pressure to come across as a certain ‘type’ that may have better chances of being able to catch as many fish as possible in the sea is immense! This is also why maintaining your Tinder profiles or bio is extremely important and is also a task because you’d either be rejected or get lucky with whatever you have to show online.
So I think, as a whole, finding love on the internet in today’s time seems hopeful, easy and also fast, but at the same time a little scary and superficial, as being two sides of the same coin.
Has the digital era changed the concept of dating forever?
If we were to compare our times with that of our parents, or even grandparents, we'd probably feel as if we are living in a different world altogether, which I think we are.
Apart from increasing our probability of finding our one and only, the digital era has brought in our obsession with loving an 'aesthetic' that fits well with how we function online. From people trying to find love to those who are already in love, they have a very specific idea as to how they'd want to showcase their relationship online.
Posting stories, mentioning your significant others in comments or videos, and many more gestures are now the very definition of 'romance' for some, which forms the basis of most of the relationships in the digital era.
In an interview with Vice, Simon Frazzetto, a 20-year-old, expressed how different he thinks is our generation to that of our parents, as he said, "...You would have kind of gotten to know someone straight away as opposed to having an idea of what they're like over the internet and then meeting them in person and having them be completely different" when asked about the importance of love in his life.
Adding to this, the digital era also serves as a way for people to fulfil their own needs, wherein dating can have several meanings, depending on what one is actually looking for. Where there are people who go online in search of love, there are many others for whom online dating is a concept to kill time or even to gain some validation and feel good! So, dating doesn't necessarily mean one thing, but it has come to be more subjective than ever, wherein finding someone who shares the same definition is of utmost importance.
Therefore, the advancements made in technology from hereon will only move forward, where things will be much faster than they are today, but I am sure that the old school romance will still have its own charm somewhere, where letters and postcards will continue to have their own value just like the number of likes and swipes do today!
How do we find true love in the age of the internet?
From being hopeless romantics to being extremely hopeful to find a match online, the past few years have seen commercialisation of love and romance. Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and many more in simpler words, have started to sell love in its own sweet ways, marked with validation, hope and a sense of exploration and variety.
But the mystery remains - if there’s true love, then how do we find it?
Well, I truly believe that there’s someone for everyone, and sooner or later we all will find our ‘one and only’, now that discovery may be through a right swipe, or when you see them for the 1st time entering the same elevator as you!
There’s no one proven way to find that special one, the old school tips and tricks of love, along with all the possibilities that exist online, only act as a catalyst to help us meet our true love <3
FAQs
1. How does the internet affect a relationship?
There are all sorts of ways in which the internet affects a relationship, be it positively or negatively. For example, while some people may believe that digital footprints only make things chaotic, for couples to experience a great sense of insecurity and possessiveness, some might be grateful for the internet to exist to keep their relationship going when the distance between them is 1000s of miles! Therefore, there’s no doubt that the internet has made things more public and accessible, but it depends on every relationship as to how they let themselves get affected by everything around them, and the internet is one of them.
2. Is social media important in relationships?
In a time where everything that you can think of is online, social media does play an important role in most relationships. The public gaze, more or less, is important to develop a sense of acknowledgement and validation for the couple, which serves as a basis for commitment to one another.
