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• Researcher by Sproull and Kiesler (1986) argues, instead of increasing self-disclosure, online relationships lead to a decrease in it. They claim this is because virtual relationships lack many subtle cues, such as facial expressions and tone of voice, which lead to deindividuation (a feeling of complete anonymity and loss of control) and this increases aggressive behaviour. People rarely want to disclose personal information to an individual who is blunt and aggressive.
• The positive impact of virtual environments on developing romantic relationships is supported by research. For example, Rosenfeld and Thomas (2012) found that out of 4,000 participants studied, 71.8% of those with internet access were married or had a romantic partner, compared with only 35.9% of those without Internet access. The findings suggest that the virtual environment helps people to establish and maintain romantic relationships, endorsing explanations for virtual relationships.
• However, Sproull and Kiesler's claim has been rejected by Tidwell and Walther (1995), who argue that in virtual relationships people also use subtle cues, such as the time taken to respond to their post, or emojis. According to them, non-verbal cues in online interactions are not absent, they are just different.
• Most of the research examining virtual relationships was conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As technology is changing rapidly, so is the nature of online relationships; so psychological research in this area risks becoming outdated by the time it is published. This lowers the temporal validity of research into online relationships.