Virtual Intimacy - Essay Example

Virtual Intimacy Virtual intimacy is one of the most adopted trends of last decade during the rise of cyber age. People who were early adopters of technology of internet were experienced it deeply. However, it has impacted a lot on people’s lives negatively as well as positively (Gizmodo). In order to get formal introduction with the concept of virtual intimacy, we can elaborate it as a distant relationship without physically interacting with each other in one to one settings. It can be observed on social networking sites such as face book, tweeter, Google plus and orkut etc. The history of virtual intimacy can also be traced in older times. It was in practice with the help of letters (pen friendships) and telephones (telephonic friendships: a bit newer trend than pen friendship). These practices were not so much common and were only revolving around a certain group of people usually with literary taste. It was a practice of patience so young generation was rarely found indulged in such relationships (Psy.D.). During the age of technology, people who were dreaded of loneliness found a way out to get rid of anxiety and stressful individualist life. They started finding happiness in their desktops. Virtual intimacy and distant cyber oriented relationships no doubt have introduced us with a number of social and communal melodies with incurable side effects. Youth has abundantly distracted in the way of finding their glee in their computers. Cyber crimes were augmented significantly during the age of virtual intimacy (Halder et al 32). These crimes include hacking, personal information theft, online passwords theft, credit cards theft and fake identity show off. Levels of virtual intimacy are several including general friendships, love relationship and sexual relationships using web cameras and audio applications. Lack of trust and fake identity representation has destroyed the entire beauty of social networking. People are usually representing their identity in false grounds to timely enjoy with others (Gizmodo). Apart from social networking sites, internet media has introduced online dating services where individuals can find their dating partners to exhale their desperate feelings of affections. Since Maslow has identified social and affection need of human being, it has now justified because people cannot survive in individualist cultures (Halder et al 34). When the debate of real versus virtual relationships comes into being, it can easily be justified that level of trust is vulnerable in actual and physical relations in today’s technological age. In the scenario of uncertain physical intimate relations, it is really hard to trust upon unseen people on internet in order to plunge in to a relationship. In some cases, people reach to marriages but such marriages are not long terms due to abundantly spoken lies (Kiesbye 21). People are lean to plunge in to virtual relations because they do not feel any sort of binding or accountability. They can utilize their leisure in better way. It also offers diversity to people. If a person joins an international dating forum, he or she can get a very diverse choice of people. For example, females in western countries are more interested in Asian men and men in Asian countries like to have a white lady. This collision in choices stimulates them to have a platform to get connected with people of their desire. Many people are fond of travelling and networking, for this purpose they remain connected with many people of their interest areas who can provide them help when needed (Panteli 101). A very broadly observed phenomenon is curse of foreign nationality in men of less developed countries. They get contacts with foreign woman who can support them to come abroad for better earnings. However this is observed lesser. Nowadays people are interested in short term relationships without any sense of accountability and responsibility. Which is why they either virtually intimated with others or they look for shorter term need fulfillment sort of relationships such as one night stand or hardcore parties where you can accomplish your physical desire without any emotional attachment (Whitty, Monica T., and Adrian Carr. 61). Virtual relations are a source of demolishing the loneliness. These relations do not fulfill as needs and requirements as physical relations do. For example, people who get emotionally attached with somebody virtually get desperate for physical meeting immediately after that. They start finding the ways to arrange physical dates and meetings in order to enjoy at full swing. In this way virtual relationship may work as source of physical intimacy. An era was observed in digital age when people were used to find their life partners through cyber places and social networks however these marriages did not show a significant success rate and this practice was no more continued (Scott, Lavooy and Mottarella 756-761). There are several hot places where hundreds and thousands of virtual relationships start and break everyday including dating websites, web camera meeting web sites, social networking site and messengers like skype, yahoo and MSN. The proportion of the people is scrawny who are really interested in serious virtual relationships. More people are lean towards time pass with someone by having a light mood chit chat session. According to psychological survey, people use fake identities to simulate their unfilled desires for example if a person desired to be a business man with a lot of money and luxuries but he could not accomplish. Now he gets a chance to chat with an unknown, to whom he can falsify his identity and accomplishments and make the other impressed by his dreamed social status for the sake of his mental satisfaction. In this way people get addicted to tell a lie at huge volume (Whitty, Monica T., and Adrian Carr. 62). A person revealed his true story that he met with a girl at face book, he told the girl that he runs his own international business. In reality he was a local carpenter. Girl got impressed by his status and started enforcing him to see her face to face. He told that he fell in love with that girl and started feeling an enormous feeling of regret about why did he misrepresented himself. At last, after a long time of self accountability he decided to reveal the reality in front of the girl. According to the realistic expectation, girl got furious and kicked him off. He had nothing behind except regrets and graves. He tried to commit suicide twice but he was rescued on time. He had to have psychotherapy sessions with psychologist. Now he was quite normal but he was still not satisfied because he had lost his love. Many thought provoking stories can be found in cyber world. At the current stage, people are neutralized up to some extent. Mature people usually do not commit such blunders but adolescents typically do. The old stereotype concept is getting demolished with the age of awareness. People now seldom trust upon others in order to accept a relationship at cyber places. Everybody knows the fact that almost everyone is looking for entertainment and rejoice so better is not to expect sincerity for longer term relationships (Scott, Lavooy and Mottarella 756-761). The two fold impact of virtual cyberspaces is failed to compensate the benefits of virtual intimacy with its drawbacks. It has more drawbacks compared to its few benefits. Virtual relationships are good when both of the parties are mature and understand the ethics of relationships and interactions while it works a poison when immature brunettes and lads are found performing intimate sexual activities using cyber world. It is helpful when people connect with each other in order to share knowledge and ideas with each other but it is disgusting when students waste their important and precious time in wool gatherings. It is valuable when people join forums and discussions for the betterment of society and the entire world but it is fictitious when people destroy themselves by their own hands (Halder et al 34). In a nutshell, we can define the use of virtual networks which encourage virtually intimated relationships. It is required to restrict the usage to get rid of this vulnerable scenario which is prevailing nowadays. To remain free from such spywares’ melodies, people should be properly trained of internet and social interaction usage. Ethics are very important otherwise society becomes poisonous. For indirect cons, it has caused several problematic scenarios such as violence, dissatisfaction, socio economic disorders, aggression, hostility, anarchy, and drug addiction. Because of such activities, a rapid rise in psychological diseases and drug addiction has been reported. People become more insecure of their lives and more dissatisfied of what they have. It is a cause of disturbance in traditional family structure. Divorce rates have gotten higher and trend of child births before marriages also came in to fashion during the last decade. Divorces and child birth before marriages usually cause a single parent family. Such families do not produce normal children because one of the parents cannot pay proper attention over his or her child’s brought up. Consequently the children become insecure, violent, attention seeker, dissatisfied and psycho neurotic in extreme cases. References Gizmodo. "Virtual intimacy News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Gizmodo." 2013. Web. 3 Aug 2013. . Psy.D., John. "» Does Virtual Intimacy Exist? - World of Psychology." 2007. Web. 3 Aug 2013. . Scott, VM, MJ Lavooy and KE Mottarella. "Does virtual intimacy exist? A brief exploration into reported levels of intimacy in online relationships." Cyberpsychol Behave, 9. 6 (2006): 756-761. . Halder, Debarati, and K. Jaishankar.Cyber crime and the victimization of women laws, rights and regulations. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2012. Print. Kiesbye, Stefan. Are social networking sites harmful?. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Print. Panteli, Niki. Virtual social networks: mediated, massive and multiplayer sites. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print. Whitty, Monica T., and Adrian Carr.Cyberspace romance: the psychology of online relationships. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print. Read More