New Wave of Internet Technology and the Effects on off-Line Relationships

Abstract

There is a new place for exploration in regards to relationships; traditionally we meet people on the street, at bars or by other friends. However, since the vast expansion of Internet users, there have risen new ways of interacting and communicating with others. There are places on line that are specifically made to meet people in different context and environments. Some of these areas include instant message engines, chat rooms, and different other Internet based companies, which provide these services. Along with these new technological advances, as with many other things, there are negative outcomes. There has been research done on how these new ways of communication may cause turmoil to a relationships, through the idea of ~{!0~}Internet Infidelity,~{!1~} Internet infidelity is defined by Shaw, ~{!0~}as taking the sexual energy of any sort thoughts, feelings, and behaviors out side a committed sexual relationship in such a way that it damages the relationship, and then pretending that that this drain in energy will affect neither partner or the relationship as long as it remains undercover. (p. 29)~{!1~} Some individuals discount these acts of interactions on line as ~{!0~}non-real,~{!1~} therefore not constituting them as cheating; but through my research and my qualitative inquiries, I have found that ~{!0~}cyber cheating~{!1~} may and has caused dire consequences in relationships.

Introduction

There has always been a concern about cheating with in relationships. However, the risk seems to have increase with the advances of new technologies, such as the Internet and the services it provides in regards to meeting people. The Internet now offers many opportunities to meet people on-line through services such as on-line personal ads, chat rooms, and instant messenger systems. It is reported that, ~{!0~}national averages indicate that families have wholeheartedly adopted the computer and the Internet access into their homes in relatively short time. The exponential growth of Internet access at home raises questions regarding how Internet sexuality influences couples sexual relationship and sexual satisfaction~{!-~}(Gonya, 2004, p. 386)~{!1~} These new technologies have provided individuals in relationships the opportunity to venture in to a new way of what would be considered ~{!0~}internet infidelity.~{!1~} The reason people get trapped into this type of behavior may differ depending on what ever motives are intended by their Internet usage. Some researcher believe that individuals might be drawn to the internet to make friends or simply to find others like them that are looking for someone that can replace the intimacy that has been lost in their current relationship. There is however the perspective of certain individuals have a different perceive to the ~{!0~}realness~{!1~} of these encounters since they are in some way abstract and not face-to-face; the anonymity and the convenience of making up your own persona also contribute to the attractions to this type of activities. Moreover, this behavior has emphasized on the consequences that may hinder a relationship to the point of its end. This paper will focus on how the new technological advances in regards to the Internet and its services have attributed to many cases of adulteress behavior by one of the partner~{!/~}s and the consequences of their actions.

Approach

~{!0~}The basic research approach intends to gain knowledge as an end in itself; discover truth. (Patton, 2002, p.224) In this paper I will further research and gain knowledge on such Internet services and the effect they have on relationships. Basic research indicates that the world has a pattern, and that these patterns can be explored and explained. Past research has an indication that ~{!0~}Internet Infidelity~{!1~} has caused great complications in relationships, to the point that the relationship comes to an end. I will approach this paper for the sole purpose, which will contribute to the limited research that has been done on such a topic.

Literature Review

People gear towards on-line services to meet others because of the different demographics the Internet has to its disposal. Many of these individuals that cheat on line are attracted to the benefits that come with regard of non-physical encounters. Gonya (2004) believes, ~{!0~}Internet sexuality offers an environment free from rejection where sexuality can be explored with out having to reveal oneself through taking on another identity, maintaining anonymity, or selectively revealing only attractive parts of oneself. (380)~{!1~} These advantages also allow the cheating individual to be as selective as he or she would like to be and to let the on line affair go as far as she or he pleases. It is important to underscore the benefits these cheating individuals have and how they are easily attainable through the means of the Internet. Hence, making the Internet an ideal, and what seems to be a more prominent and new way of being unfaithful; and hidden from the partner in the ~{!0~}real~{!1~} physical relationship.

Cases have prominently been rising in which people are looking for sexual satisfaction through the means of cyberspace. In some cases where one of the individuals feels that the other is not providing the sexual satisfaction that the other partner is looking for, is one of the causes of that will drive the other to explore other possibilities that will fulfill what is lacking in the relationship, however the consequences to turning to the internet as an alternate, may not be evident to the individual using such means. Jennifer Gonya (2004) In Internet Sexuality: Clinical Implications for Couples, states, ~{!0~}(That) with the expansion of internet infidelity family researchers have yet to access the impact of Internet sexuality on couples with respect to their relationships or their sexual satisfaction,~{!1~} (p. 375) this indicates that the concept of ~{!0~}cyber cheating~{!1~} should be taken more seriously by marriage counselors and other professionals that deal with relationship counseling. Her research indicates and asks for the need for the ~{!0~}realness~{!1~} of the problem that ~{!0~}cyber cheating~{!1~} has caused in relationships in order to help discover means to help people that are currently seeking counseling for this abstract form of infidelity.

It can be hard to access the ~{!0~}realness~{!1~} of cyber cheating studies show that there are individuals who do not view this as a negative act; there are of course the different perspectives of men and women, in regards to being unfaithful with such actions. In a study done by Powell (1995), in order to explore the different understanding and perspectives that the