RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships

Relationships

Question 1: Influence of Internet on Relationships

The World Wide Web had its origins in the United States in the late '60s as a political-military strategy and as with many projects, this was outweighed by its potential and possibilities, so its development was extended to the entire population, positioning it as a key tool that had begun to take shape as a "globalized" product. Previously, it was required to travel distances and the investment of time to get in touch with others, especially if the relationships establishing regional boundaries are exceeded. Today, thanks to the Internet, it is not necessary, because in seconds you can be in touch with people across the world.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the life of an average citizen changed a great deal through the technologies of television and telephone (OKTAN, V. (2011). Internet is one of the greatest advancements and a technological breakthrough of the current century. Similar to telegraph or telephone, the internet is interactive and helpful in corresponding. However, it has greatly influenced the personal relationships of people in a way that has made it easier for them to communicate at great distances. Regarding the matter of relationships, this advancement has proved as a powerful new tool for the devil, awash in pornography, causing users to be addicted to hours each day of “surfing” during which they are away from their family and friends. This leads to ultimate depression and loneliness for the users which also weakens the socialization and community ties (Whitton, S. W., & Kuryluk, A. D. (2012). The introduction of social media has augmented the use of internet further by enabling the people to communicate, exchange messages and emails over the web portal. Various scholars have mentioned internet as a sterile and an impoverished form of communication, as compared to the richer and more expressive face to face communication, resulting in putting negative impacts on interpersonal relations.

Internet is a tool that has many advantages, which are attributed to education, commerce, entertainment and ultimately to the development of an individual. Participation in virtual groups allow people to interact with others having common interest, regardless of their location. In testing these discussion groups Balkan, E., & Adalier, A. (2011) found that this medium enabled those with stigmatize persons (based on gender or ideology) to reach a large self-acceptance that ultimately led to reveal your family and friends identity hidden. This makes virtual group membership become an important part of their identity. However, Internet also contributed towards the negative properties. In a study, it was concluded that the Internet helped in reducing social circle and affected psychological, social activity and shifting replacing strong ties with weak ones. The friendships created on the network appear to be more limited than those backed by physical proximity. It is worth mentioning that the impact of internet also depend upon and differ according to the nature of relationships. The friendships, for instance, have grown stronger due to the ease of ...