Abstract
The information error has fundamentally altered how people conduct themselves in various sectors such as education, business, and general social interactions. Technological advances in areas such as email, social media, and instant messaging were all designed to expedite and enhance communication. Today, friends and families separated by huge distances can now communicate face to face through video calls whenever they like. More so, each year, dating sites such as Tinder successfully connect hundreds of thousands of soon-to-be spouses. And even more significant, parents can communicate with their children more readily throughout the day. However, while society adjusts to these new modes of communication, there are also ways in which the new technology threatens to erode critical components of how individuals connect and engage on an individual level (GoodTherapy, 2022). This is particularly true in our closest connections.
Therefore, as people spend an increasing amount of time huddled around their computers, tablets, and smartphones, a critical issue arises: Is the new technology bringing people closer together or further apart? While the benefits of technology on relationships are clear, there are still certain negatives that individuals should be aware of in terms of how technology might negatively impact their relationships. The disadvantages of technology in relationships do not always imply that persons should avoid using technology completely; nonetheless, knowledge of the disadvantages can assist individuals in determining what they should and should not do. Knowing what others have done incorrectly can assure that no one has to learn some lessons the hard way. Therefore, it is unsurprising that technology can cause chaos in relationships. For this reason, this study explores the impact of technology on people’s quality time spent together and depression and anxiety levels.
Thesis Statement: Research suggests that people should limit their use of technology because it has significantly reduced quality time spent together and has increased levels of anxiety and depression.
Discussion
The 21st Century adolescents depend on media and technology in navigating romantic relationships. In their article, Vaterlaus et al. (2018) present a detailed study of how interactive technology and entertainment media impact romantic relationships among young adults and adolescents. Through thorough research, the authors assert that interactive technology and entertainment media impact romantic relationships among the mentioned groups (interactive technology at 97% and entertainment media at 95%). Interactive technology and entertainment media provide role models for expected romantic relationship behaviors. Besides, the two are also connected with the development of unfeasible relationship expectations and the perceived push to be in a relationship. Interactive technology has completely changed how adolescents and young adults communicate with their partners how they become integrated into the whole romantic relationship life cycle and led to the fall of in-person communication among these groups.
Individuals should restrict their use of technology since it has resulted in a considerable decrease in quality time spent with one another and increased anxiety and despair.
There has been a significant rise in the use of ECT (electronic communication technology) being incorporated in romantic relationships. According to Deans and Bhogal (2019), there has been a rise in ECT use as a medium to manage a romantic partner. Although several articles emphasize the cyber-dating abuse victims, these authors focus on the factors predicting cyber-dating abuse perpetration. They attempt to determine whether romantic jealousy (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional jealousy), aggression (physical, hostility, anger), and gender predict the perpetration of cyber-dating abuse. This article is very relevant to my topic as its findings help me understand and appreciate the psychological factors driving cyber-dating abuse among various groups’ romantic relationships.
Obsessional use of social media has consequences on the users’ professional, psychological, personal, and social lives. Abbasi (2019) comprehensively examines the connection between social media obsession and behaviors related to infidelity. Besides, the author also explores the influence of age on this connection. I found this article suitable for my research as online association with virtual friends often distract most users from spending quality time with their real-life partners consuming their attention. Furthermore, the internet’s romantic alternatives provide a perfect environment for a sexual or emotional affair, leading to adverse romantic relationship outcomes. This source also enabled me to understand the connection between age and social media addiction and infidelity-related behaviors.
In their article, Nyholm et al. (2021) explore the impact of future and emerging technologies such as love drugs, sex robots, anti-love medicines, and gamify relationships on the value and understanding of love. The authors also explore some of the significant concerns these emerging technologies bring while discussing whether there’s a need for a ‘vigilant optimism’ considering their impacts on people’s lives. I found this article interesting as it explains the nature of love, what it is really about, and how it should be appreciated and valued.
The current technology abundance in our daily life has created interruption opportunities among couples. McDaniel and Drouin (2019) refer to this technology abundance as phubbing or ‘technoference .’Based on the participants’ results, these authors assert that when users rate more pubbing than usual, they often feel worse about their romantic relationships and perceive in-person interaction or communication as less effective. Therefore, this article maintains that the use of technology interferes with one-on-one communication or interaction among romantic partners. Hence, affecting their daily evaluation of mood and their relationship.
Young adults and adolescents increasingly depend on text messaging to maintain communication and sustain their romantic relationships. Nonetheless, Ohadi et al. (2018) assert that there has been a mixed reaction regarding the impact of this technology on romantic relationship satisfaction. Therefore, this article primarily explores the role of perceived texting similarity among couples in forecasting satisfaction in romantic relationships. With about 98% of adolescents with mobile phones in modern society, this article is significant in my research. This article examines the role of technology in romantic relationships’ communication and satisfaction, which is vital in my study.
Smartphone technology is continuously spreading globally. As a result, there has been a rising concern about overdependence on this technology and how it can curb communication and negatively impact interpersonal relationships. Therefore, Lapierre and Custer (2021) explore contemporary smartphone dependency and its impact on romantic relationship communication and couple satisfaction. This article is relevant to my selected research topic because, in contemporary society, smartphones/mobile phones are associated with increased communication among romantic partners. Besides, increased use of smartphones is associated with high mediated communication among these groups hence predicting enhanced affectionate communication. However, when reviewing the journal further, I learned that smartphone dependency could lead to low couple satisfaction and unaffectionate communication despite their significance in romantic and interpersonal relationships. Therefore, the relevance of this journal to my topic is that it provides insights into how technology possibly affects connections among romantic partners.
Technology has wholly shaped couples leisure time. It has interfered with couples’ good time and one-on-one interactions through phubbing or tecnoference. I know I had already listed an article on tecnoference and phubbing. Still, unlike the one recorded earlier, McDaniel et al. (2021) provide a suitable remedy to technoference, which includes engaging in shared use of technology to enhance romantic relationship bonds. Since it has completely transformed the 21st century, this article explores the significance of shared technology use and its impact on relationship quality, conflict, and couple satisfaction. Technology has several adverse impacts on romantic relationships. However, I find this article relevant as it explains how shared technology use plays a significant role in relationship quality, positive feelings, and couple time. A perfect remedy for technoference.
Modern technology has grown so pervasive in our lives that it’s easy to develop an addiction to smartphone and social media use to the point that it begins to interfere with our ability to relax and sleep. As a result, additional stress accumulates throughout the day, creating a cycle of stress buildup. With technology, people are ever insulated from little uncertainty, exposing them to major ones. Anxiety is caused by uncertainty. People often ask themselves questions in the hope of relying on something predictable. For instance, “What will happen?” “How do people feel about me?” “What if this goes horribly wrong?” Therefore, technology has diminished people’s exposure to uncertainty, making them less equipped to cope with ambiguity when it occurs. Romantic relationships frequently provide unique obstacles, and evolving technology can exacerbate the stress associated with modern partnerships.
At times, the methods people utilize technology can cause friction between dating partners, potentially igniting conflict and discontent. According to a report by GoodThearapy (2022), 1 in 4 mobile phone owners in a marriage or relationship complained about their spouse being overly preoccupied with their phone. Nearly 1 in 10 experienced a disagreement with a spouse over excessive technology use. According to the poll, many disagreements between couples may be related to technology use, such as whether to use gadgets and when to abstain. Social media use has also been demonstrated to severely affect mental health. Several research studies that have analyzed depression rates in younger individuals maintain that those spending the most time on social media have a considerably elevated risk of depression. Excessive use of personal social media is strongly connected with greater depression.
As a result, psychologists emphasize the need to find therapies for heavy social media consumers prior to the onset of a severe mental health problem. A study by Ivanova et al. (2020) supports this statement by asserting that cellphones are destroying romantic relationships and increased levels of depression in the general population. Today, more than 95% of American adults use or own mobile phones and other devices such as tablets and computers (McDaniel & Drouin, 2019). Therefore, I found this information relevant to my topic as such technology abundance is more likely to develop technological interruptions among couples. The result of this technology abundance, or as the authors call it, ‘technoference,’ is often high rates of jealousy, conflict, and low romantic satisfaction or closeness.
Reference
Abbasi, I. S. (2019). Social media addiction in romantic relationships: Does user’s age influence vulnerability to social media infidelity? Personality and Individual Differences, 139, 277-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.10.038
Deans, H., & Bhogal, M. S. (2019). Perpetrating cyber dating abuse: A brief report on the role of aggression, romantic jealousy and gender. Current Psychology, 38(5), 1077-1082.
GoodTherapy. (2022). 3 Ways Technology Can Negatively Impact Your Relationships. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/3-ways-technology-can-negatively-impact-your-relationships-0919167
Ivanova, A., Gorbaniuk, O., Błachnio, A., Przepiórka, A., Mraka, N., Polishchuk, V., & Gorbaniuk, J. (2020). Mobile phone addiction, phubbing, and depression among men and women: A moderated mediation analysis. Psychiatric Quarterly, 91(3), 655-668.
Lapierre, M. A., & Custer, B. E. (2021). Testing relationships between smartphone engagement, romantic partner communication, and relationship satisfaction. Mobile Media & Communication, 9(2), 155-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157920935163
McDaniel, B. T., & Drouin, M. (2019). Daily technology interruptions and emotional and relational well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 99, 1-8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7430699/
McDaniel, B. T., Galovan, A. M., & Drouin, M. (2021). Daily technoference, technology use during couple leisure time, and relationship quality. Media Psychology, 24(5), 637-665. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2020.1783561
Nyholm, S., Danaher, J., & Earp, B. D. (2021). The technological future of love. In Philosophy of Love in the Past, Present, and future (pp. 224-239). Routledge. https://philpapers.org/archive/NYHTTF.pdf
Vaterlaus, J. M., Tulane, S., Porter, B. D., & Beckert, T. E. (2018). The perceived influence of media and technology on adolescent romantic relationships. Journal of Adolescent Research, 33(6), 651-671. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558417712611
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