Thursday, June 11, 2009
Does physical interaction change anything?
After reading a few different posts and responses, I came across a motif in our answers. We keep on saying that by meeting people in person, this somehow validates the relationship more so than if it were just online. Also, you can't truly know someone who you can't see in person. I think this brings up an interesting idea, that if you meet someone or talk to them in person, somehow you can trust them more than if you can not see someone. Obviously, this is true on some level, since it's harder to lie about things like height, gender, race and age in person than online, but what about other characteristics, such as psychology, goals and preferences? Not to sound too over-dramatic, but how well do we know someone, even if we've interacted with them for years. I am sure that we have all had those experiences where our best friend/significant other/family member says something that surprises us and we think "do I even know you?" I guess my point is that we have more faith that if we can meet someone in person, suddenly we can trust them more. What is it about physical interactions that provide more trust than non-physical relationships? We all know stories of people lying through cyberspace, but don't we also know stories of people lying in real life? How does that physical interaction validate a relationship that non-physical interaction can't?
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I think that may actually be a benefit to meeting online, in this case. In person, you've no choice but to be honest about height, gender, race, age (within a few years, I suppose!). Meeting online, there's seemingly less motivation for anyone to lie about the non-physical parts (goals, personality, preferences, etc). So maybe meeting online then getting together in real life is the way to go?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying that it is true that you can lie both online and in person, but when you meet someone in person you rely on other cues as well, such as body lanuage, eye contact, tone of voice, etc. All these things help us to recognize whether the person is being real and truthful. I realize no one is a human lie detector, but I also feel like it is harder to lie to someone in person because it's not annonymous anymore. Also if two people have feelings for each other there would be obvious flirting and touching that also could be hard to fake. In conclusion, I think that meeting in person further solidifies our thoughts and feelings about the other person which is needed to continue long term relationships.
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