Podcast: Online Dating

Podcast: Online Dating 

For the Podcast (Spotify, 2021) that I found, I chose one about online dating. Dating online is incredibly prevalent in our world today. According to Pew Research Center, "one in ten partnered adults, met their current significant other through a dating site or app" (Pew Research Center, 2023). It is from the podcast, 'Let's Get Vulnerable: Relationship and Dating Advice". I wanted to analyze and look more deeply into online dating because it has become so deeply intertwined in our everyday lives. One of the biggest aspects that the podcast discussed was to share your true self while on dating apps. This relates to our course content because if we recall from the textbook chapter, Social Media Profiles, your identity online is like a background check for employers. This also holds true with online dating. You want to make sure you're putting your best foot forward and showing your personality. One important concept that we have discussed is perception, the use of senses to process information about external stimuli. We want people to have a positive perception of us, especially people we may date. There are many factors that go into perception and having a positive self-identity is the first step in online dating. It lets people, professional or not, get a glimpse into you as a person especially before meeting you. While that being said, it's also important to keep a balance of professionalism and holding some cards closer to your chest. You want people to get the best first impression as possible. The podcast also discussed how online dating is also "data collecting" which is very similar to how we operate as a whole on the internet and online world. Sometime this can be positive but also negative. As we know from The Web and Social Media: Their Impact on Our Lives (Communicating Online, 2021), the information that we consume can be easily misconstrued or faked. These ideas and lessons still apply to online dating. Learning how people can take something and run with it, as like How I was Trolled on the Internet (Communicating Online, 2021) by Fareed Zakaria. Obviously not to the same extent as Zakaria's experience but it does show how things can be misconstrued online. This is a lesson that people can take into their online dating experience, being diligent to what they put out on the internet for people to see. Taking into account the things we learn through this course and how to apply them to different aspects of our lives, like online dating. Learning how to be perceived well and putting the best foot forward allows for so many opportunities for connection with people. 

Pew Research Center, Younger or LGB adults more likely than their counterparts to have ever used a dating site or app.

Sources:

Communicating Online. McGraw-Hill Create. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781307876413

Let's Get Vulnerable: Relationship and Dating Advice, Spotify, 2021, https://open.spotify.com/show/7qcKqLfy6UNddBGFD2lYUX 

Vogels, E. A. (2023, February 2). Key findings about online dating in the U.S. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/