Rebecca Centanni
Sociology 022 – In the Facebook Age – Spring 2010 – Dhiraj Murthy

online relationships are as legitimate as offline relationships

Convincing Points:

1. Since we spend a large portion of our lives online, there is no reason why relationships should be confined to the physical world. Some people even spend more time online than they do interacting in the physical world

2. People engage in many ways without face to face contact such as through texts and letters- Skype provides a means for virtual face to face contact

3. Online relationships are purely voluntary and therefore hold more importance to people- Individuals are not forced to interact with other individuals because of family ties or geography but are able to interact with those an individual finds truly interesting or relatable.

4. When two people communicate online there is no question of whether one individual is using the other for physical pleasure. For the most part, online relationships come from pure curiosity and interest in learning about somebody else’s life.

Less Convincing Points:

1. Face to face contact is the only difference between online and offline relationships- I feel that face to face contact, while not necessary constantly, is an important part of all relationships.

2. Trust is an individual rather than a mutual feeling- I feel that both people need to be part of a trusting relationship. An individual needs to rely on others to trust him in order for a relationship to progress closer. While the individual himself decides whether or not he trusts somebody else, he needs the other half of the relationship to decide to trust him.

3. If people are compatible online then they are compatible in real life- I feel that this depends completely on the individual. Some people are completely truthful online while others are not-sexual predators find the internet to be an especially useful tool, and pretend to be somebody who they are not.

4. Blind dates are similar to online relationships- I agree with this point however I would not classify blind dates as relationships. A relationship forms from a blind date as the two individuals spend more time together and learn about each others interests. To become intimate relationships, the individuals need physical contact, which cannot be attained virtually.

To Improve their argument:

I feel that this side should have brought up the fact that online relationships are blind to traditional societal groupings such as age, gender, and class. This adds a level of importance to online relationships as they bring together two individuals that probably would not have formed a relationship in the concrete world.

online relationships are not as meaningful as offline ones

Convincing Points:

1. Online and offline relationships  were equally as important, why do people continually try to move online relationships to offline

2.physicality- adds to relationship ie. holding hands, physical contact, intimacy, high 5 each other

3. Sexual predators use the internet frequently- to much of a range of truthfulness in people online for somebody to be able to generalize.

4. 93% of human communication is non-verbal- voice quality, body language, involuntary expression- with virtual relationships you miss out on all of these subtle cues.

Less Convincing Points

1. While sexual predators do exist online, the real danger comes when the two individuals plan to meet in the real world. Without this physical meeting, the online chatting isn’t necessarily dangerous.