14 DAY TRIAL // With Valentine's Day knocking at the door for yet another year, many couples around the world are now getting ready to restate their commitment to the people they love. Unlike years before, in 2010, they have a wide variety of means at their disposal, ranging from the classic love letter and cards, to sending electronic messages, texts, or updating their profile on social media networks. The truth is that technology and love are starting to come closer together than ever, and experts in the matter say that this is not necessarily a good thing, LiveScience reports.
Assistant Professor Michael Silverman, from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, says that the wide variety of electronics communications means that people have at their disposal may be great for supporting relationships, but they make forming new ones more difficult. He cites instant messaging (IM), text messaging (SMS), multimedia messaging (MMS), and BlackBerry messaging (BBM) as examples of that. Most of these methods are only two-ways, which means that they kind of exclude a third party, as in a new acquaintance.
“When you’re just dating, texting gives you the illusion that the person is always accessible,” professor Silverman said for TechNewsDaily. But the expert adds that one of the main drawbacks for this level of communication is the fact that many people begin to miss having the feeling that the other person is missing them, or vice-versa. As soon as couple members want to see or hear from each other, all they have to do is pick up the phone, or sit at their computers, and it's all taken care of. While this may be satisfactory in the short-run, it may become detrimental over time, the scientist reveals.
But some disagree with this point of view. Critics say that a shift also occurred in the way we select our life partners, in the sense that many years ago, people married their highschool or college romance. Now, they get married later, and also divorce more often. A direct result is that more individuals in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s are looking for love, and therefore dating sites are a viable alternative. Some of these people may not have even been to collage, or may not work in office buildings.