Ghosted

The advent of technological interventions in the dating process has had significant effects on modern relationships and social interactions. The first online dating platform, Match.com, was launched in 1995. Initially stigmatized, online dating has become increasingly common, particularly with the rise of popular smartphone dating applications like Tinder and Grindr. Online dating has produced several significant benefits for its users, including the opportunity to form relationships with those with whom one is compatible but who an individual may not have met in their daily life. The process can also be more convenient and time-efficient than organic modes of meeting a potential partner. Meeting online can increase diversity among romantic partners from different racial, social, and economic backgrounds (Brown, Anna. “Couples Who Meet Online Are More Diverse Than Those Who Meet in Other Ways, Largely Because They Are Younger.” Pew Research Center, 2019). Furthermore, introverted individuals also have the opportunity to connect with prospective partners in written form rather than face-to-face.

Despite the benefits of increased choice and lower-stakes written communication, the role of technology in modern dating can also have adverse psychological and social consequences. The abundance of choice can produce a depersonalizing effect, in which there always seems to be a better potential option, and in which the people involved are thought of as faces on a screen, rather than as individuals.