Virtual relationships

• Rosenfeld & Thomas (2012)

  4000 US adults

  • 72 % of people with internet access were in a relationship
  • 36 % of people without internet access were in a relationship

  use of the internet is becoming more common in forming relationships
• Walther - hyperpersonal model

  • self disclosure happens more in online relationships
  • these relationships become intense and end quickly —> ’boom & bust’
• Hollenbaugh & Everett (2013)

  Investigated virtual relationships on social media

  • younger bloggers engage in deeper, more revealing self disclosure
  • Female bloggers self disclose more
• Baker & Oswald (2010)

  • investigated absence of gating
  • ppts completed a questionnaire on shyness and perception of friendship quality
  • shy people perceived their friendship quality as better, showing that online communication helps people to overcome their shyness