"Miss average looking for random guy?": explanations of online dating

Abstract

The area of cyberpsychology is a growing field of interest that recognises a changing society where communication technology is reshaping and redefining social interaction and communication dynamics. This thesis examines the way that internet daters discuss their experiences of online dating. The purpose of the study was to investigate the explanations that people give for participating in online dating and to shed light on the assumptions that underlie those explanations. Five online focus groups were held, which consisted of between four and seven participants, and were made up of volunteers over the age of eighteen who had had experience in online dating. In the focus groups participants were encouraged to discuss the benefits and limitations of internet dating. The discourse analytic concepts of contradiction and variability shaped the substantive analysis. Personal identity was examined under the framework of the Discourse Action Model, raising notions of accountability, stake and interest. The analysis identified contradictions in commonsense formulations of reasons for internet dating, and illustrated the ways that social identity categories emerge in online discussion. It also found that internet dating is an accountable action which produces varying kinds of explanations that appeared to be mobilised to inoculate against the stigma associated with internet dating. This thesis contributes to emerging relationship and identity literature by providing discursive insight into the kinds of dilemmas and socially shared values and understandings that underpin explanations of online dating practices.