Editing Internet relationship (section)

=== Internet dating ===
Internet dating is very relevant in the lives of many individuals worldwide.<ref name="E-Dating2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yENNc7Fp3vQC&q=online+dating+sites+in+the+90s|title=Social networking communities and e-dating services: concepts and implications|last=Romm- Livermore|first=Celia|publisher=Idea Group Inc. (IGI)|year=2009|isbn=978-1-60566-104-9|page=398}}</ref> A major benefit in the rise of Internet dating is the decrease in prostitution. People no longer need to search on the streets to find casual relationships. They can find them online if that is what they desire.<ref name="E-Dating2" /> Internet dating websites offer matchmaking services for people to find love or whatever else they may be looking for. The creation of the internet and its progressive innovations have opened up doors for people to meet other people who they may very well have never met otherwise.<ref name="E-Dating2" />

==== Dating website innovations ====
Although the availability of uploading videos to the internet is not a new innovation, it has been made easier since 2008 thanks to [[YouTube]]. YouTube began the surge of video streaming sites in 2005 and within three years, smaller web developers started implementing video sharing on their sites. Internet dating sites have benefitted greatly since the surge in easiness and accessibility of picture and video uploading.<ref name="online videos2">{{cite journal|url=http://usir.salford.ac.uk/2279/1/Proceedings_amcis-0635-2009-File001.pdf|title=Performing the Discourse of Sexuality Online Foucault, Butler, and Video-sharing on Sexual Social Networking Sites|last=Kreps|first=David G.|journal=International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics |date=2023 |volume=35 |issue=7 |publisher=Proceedings of the Fifteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems|doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.13078.32327 }}</ref> Videos and pictures are equally important for most personal profiles. These profiles can be found on sites used for [[interpersonal relationships]] other than dating as well. "The body, although graphically absent, does not have to be any less present."<ref name="online videos2" /> Older and less advanced sites usually still allow, and often require, each user to upload a picture. Newer and more advanced sites offer the possibility of [[streaming media]] live via the user's profile for the site. The inclusion of videos and pictures has become almost a necessity for sexual social networking sites to maintain the loyalty of their members.<ref name="online videos2" /> It is appealing to internet users to be able to view and share videos, especially when forming relationships or friendships.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jayson |first=Sharon |date=January 23, 2013 |title=Online dating has changed everything, author says |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/love-algorithms-online-dating/1856853/ |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=2021-03-30}}</ref>

==== Users ====
According to an article in the ''New York Times'', mediated matchmaking has been around since the mid-1800s.<ref name="Start of online dating2">{{cite journal|last=Shaefer|first=Laura J.|date=14 February 2003|title=Looking for Love, Online or On Paer|url=https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Looking+for+love%2C+online+or+on+paper.+The+New+York+Times+Shaefer&oq=Looking+for+love%2C+online+or+on+paper.+The+New+York+Times+Shaefer&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...8030.10040.1.10149.9.9.0.0.0.0.92.585.8.8.0.crf.1.3Rk45Pdpew4&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=fb8265af22147407&biw=1146&bih=598|journal=The New York Times|access-date=26 April 2012}}</ref> Online dating was made available in the mid-1990s, with the creation of the first dating sites.<ref name="Brooks2">{{cite web|url=http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/files/idea-white-paper-final-review-copy-only-updated-1-19.pdf|title=How has Internet dating changed society? An Insider's Look|last=Brooks|first=Mark|publisher=Courtland Brooks|work=Scholarly Article|access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref> These dating sites create a space for liberation of sexuality. According to Sam Yagan of [[OkCupid]], "the period between New Year's Day and Valentine's Day is [our] busiest six weeks of the year".<ref name="Start of online dating2" /> Changes that online dating companies have created include not only the increase of pickiness in singles, but the rise in interracial marriages and spread the acceptance of homosexual individuals. Dating sites "are a place where sexual minorities, inter-sexed people and gay people are enjoying a newly found freedom".<ref name="Brooks2" /> Several studies have shown the availability of online dating to produce a greater closeness and intimacy between individuals because it circumvents barriers that face-to-face interactions might have. "Participating in personal relationships online allow for almost full freedom from power relations in the offline/real world."<ref name="online videos2" />

A plethora of virtual sexual identities are represented in online profiles. The amount of personal information users are being asked to provide is constantly increasing. More and more online users are starting to explore and experiment with aspects of their sexual identities, whereas before, they may have felt uncomfortable due to social constraints or fear of possible repercussions.<ref name="Electronic Cloak2">{{cite book|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=199529|title=Electronic Cloak: Secret Sexual Deviance in Cybersociety|last=DiMarco|first=Heather|publisher=William Publishing|year=2003|location=Oregon}}</ref> Most internet sites containing personal profiles require individuals to fill in "personal information" sections. Often these sections include a series of multiple choice questions. Due to the anonymity of these virtual profiles, individuals are more frequent to 'role'-play at being one of the predefined 'types', although offline, reservations may inhibit the individual from sharing true answers.

There have also been many studies done to observe online daters and their reason for turning to the internet to look for romantic partners. According to Robert J. Brym and Rhonda L. Lenton, users of online games, websites, and other virtual communities are encouraged to conceal their identities and learn things about themselves that they never knew before.<ref name="canada2">{{cite book|url=http://www.bestsoftworks.com/docs/loveonline.pdf|title=Love Online: A Report On Digital Dating in Canada|last=Brym|first=Robert J.|publisher=Msn.ca|year=2001|location=Toronto|access-date=2012-04-30|archive-date=2013-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101162157/http://www.bestsoftworks.com/docs/loveonline.pdf}}</ref> With a concealed identity, an online user can be whoever they want to be at that exact moment. They have the ability to venture outside of their comfort zone and act as someone completely different.

The ''Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication'' reports the results of a study conducted by Robert J. Stephure, Susan D. Boon, Stacy L. MacKinnon, and Vicki L. Deveau on types of relationships online participants were seeking. They concluded that "when asked what they were looking for in an online relationship, the considerable majority of participants expressed interest in seeking fun, companionship, and someone to talk to. Most also reported interests in developing casual friendships and dating relationships with online partners. Substantially fewer reported using the Internet for the specific purposes of identifying potential sexual or marital partners."<ref>{{cite journal|last2=Boon|first2=Susan D.|last3=MacKinnon|first3=Stacey L.|last4=Deveau|first4=Vicki L.|year=2009|title=Internet Initiated Relationships: Associations Between Age and Involvement in Online Dating|journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication|volume=14|issue=3|pages=658–681|doi=10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01457.x|last1=Stephure|first1=Robert J.|doi-access=free}}</ref>

However, a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, looked at about 19,000 married people and those who met their spouse online said their marriage was more satisfying than those who met their spouse offline. Plus, marriages that began online were less likely to end in separation or divorce.<ref>{{cite web|title=Business Insider|website=[[Business Insider]] |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/happy-marriage-online-dating-2017-10|access-date=31 Jul 2018}}</ref>

Faye Mishna, Alan McLuckie, and Michael Saini, co-authors of the ''[[Social Work Research]]'' article ''Real-World Dangers in an Online Reality: A Qualitative Study Examining Online Relationships and Cyber Abuse'', reported the results of their research and observation of over 35,000 individuals between the ages of 6 and 24 who have been or currently are a part of an internet relationship about which they had concerns, and consequently contacted an organization that provided online support. Of the final 346 posts chosen to be included in the study, the average age of online users sharing information about their online relationship(s) was 14 years old.<ref name="Abuse2">{{cite journal|last=Mishna|first=Faye|date=June 2009|title=Real- World Dangers in an Online Reality: A Qualitative Study Examining Online Relationships and Cyber Abuse|journal=Social Work Research|volume=33|issue=2|pages=107–118|author2=Alan McLuckie|author3=Michael Saini|doi=10.1093/swr/33.2.107|citeseerx=10.1.1.688.9332}}</ref> The overwhelming result was that children and youth consider their online relationships to be just as "real" as their offline relationships. The study also showed that the internet plays a crucial role in sexual and romantic experiences of this population of adolescent users.<ref name="Abuse2" />

==== Success of dating websites and social networks ====
[[Canaan Partners]] have reported that the dating industry brings in an estimate of 3-4 billion dollars yearly from membership fees and advertisements.<ref name="Start of online dating2" /> The range of dating sites has expanded vastly over the past two decades. There are dating websites that focus on the [[matchmaking]] of certain groups of people based on religion, sexual preference, race, etc.<ref name="Start of online dating2" />

The average life expectancy has been on a rise, leaving many young singles feeling as if they have plenty of time to find a [[life partner]]. This opens up time to travel and experience things without the burden of a relationship. As of 1996, more than 20% of Canadians "were not living in the same census subdivision as they were five years earlier"<ref name="canada2" /> and as of 1998, more than half of employed Canadians worried "they [did] not have enough time to spend with their family and friends".<ref name="canada2" /> Due to an increase in many businesses requiring their employees to travel, singles, often young professionals, find online dating websites to be the perfect answer to their "problem", states Brym and Lenton.

Erik Shipmon, author of "Why Do People Date Online?", exclaims, "the Internet is the ultimate singles' bar—without the noise, the drunks, and the high cost of all those not-so-happy hours. Nor, thanks to online dating membership sites, do you have to depend on your friends and family to hook you up with people they think would be perfect for you—and who wouldn't be perfect for, well, anyone, which is why they are still unattached".<ref name="internet like singles bar2">{{cite web|url=http://www.cupidnights.com/dating-advice/article-12.html|title=Why do people date online|last=Shipmon|first=Erik|access-date=27 April 2012}}</ref>

==== Cybersex ====
Some people who are in an online relationship also participate in [[cybersex]], which is a virtual sex encounter in which two or more individuals who are connected remotely via computer network send each other sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience. This can also include individuals communicating sexually via video or audio. Some websites offer a cybersex service, where a patron pays the website owner in exchange for an online sexual experience with another person.

Cybersex sometimes includes real life masturbation. The quality of a cybersex encounter typically depends upon the participants' abilities to evoke a vivid, visceral mental picture in the minds of their partners. Imagination and suspension of disbelief are also critically important. Cybersex can occur either within the context of existing or intimate relationships, e.g. among lovers who are [[Long-distance relationship|geographically separated]], or among individuals who have no prior knowledge of one another and meet in virtual spaces or cyberspaces and may even remain anonymous to one another. In some contexts cybersex is enhanced by the use of a webcam to transmit real-time video of the partners.