The number of couples who meet online is growing at a rapid rate, according to research by Stanford sociologist Michael Rosenfeld. This significant development of people's relationship with technology has also shown that the Internet has surpassed the role of a friend when it comes to finding a partner
Since 1940, the traditional ways of meeting partners - through family, in the church and in the neighborhood - have been declining, according to a report by Stanford University.
How couples met (1930-2024) pic.twitter.com/e5FK5XOHtl
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Research has reported that heterosexual couples are more likely to meet a romantic partner online than through personal contacts and relationships.
Rosenfeld, the study's lead author and a professor of sociology in the College of Humanities, drew on a 2017 nationally representative survey of American adults and found that about 39 percent of heterosexual couples reported meeting their partner online.
For two decades, the sociologist studied the way people meet, as well as the impact of the Internet on society.
"People are increasingly trusting new dating technology, and the stigma of meeting online seems to be disappearing," Rosenfeld told Stanford News.
The world of online dating in your pocket
The results of the 2009 survey show that most people still used a friend as an intermediary to meet their partners.
"We thought that the role of friends in meeting people would never be surpassed." But online dating seems to be replacing it. It's an important development in people's relationship to technology," says Rosenfeld.
There are two key technological innovations, he adds, that have each advanced online dating.
The first was the birth of the graphical World Wide Web around 1995. Images and search seem to have added a lot to the online dating experience.
Another key innovation is the spectacular rise of the smartphone in the 2010s.
"It's contributed to having the whole world of online dating in your pocket all the time," says Rosenfeld.
He adds that online dating systems also offer a much larger pool of potential partners than the number of people your mother knows or the number of people your best friend knows.
Dating websites have huge advantages. Even if most of the people suggested by the algorithm are not to your taste, with more choice, you have a better chance of finding someone who suits you.
Is it proof that we are less social?
Rosenfield disagrees with the claim that people are less social because they are more active in the online sphere.
"When it comes to singles looking for romantic partners, online dating technology is nothing but a good thing in my opinion." It seems to me that a basic human need is to find someone to partner with, and if technology helps with that, then it's useful," he says.
The decline in meeting partners through family is not a sign that people no longer need their family. It's just a sign that a romantic partnership happens later in life.
"Furthermore, in our study, we found that the success of a relationship does not depend on whether people met online or not." "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how you met your partner, a relationship takes on a life of its own after the first date," says Rosenfeld.
The research showed, as one of the advantages, that groups of people who otherwise had problems finding partners, now find it easier to meet someone online.
One of them is the LGBTQ+ community. The rate of meeting gay couples online is much higher than that of heterosexual couples.
Source: Stanford University
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