Relationships and Technology: Does Age Count?

By Brianna Tift

Despite having to be 13- years- old to have a MySpace account, there are many elementary students that have accounts.

 The problem with these young elementary students having these MySpace, Facebook and Twitter accounts, is that the average age of MySpace users is thirty -five- years old, according to wiki.answers.com, and 68% of all users are twenty- five and older.

 Kylee McGeary 11 thinks that online relationships aren’t worth the time because they never work. 

“You can’t have the part of the relationship that keeps it going. You would have to have a lot of trust for the person, because you really never know what they are doing,” McGeary said.

The Facts

 According to Google.com online, only about 14% of people who meet online will get married. It is possible to get married when you meet online, but it is improbable and hardly ever lasts that long.

 Only 40% of these types of marriages last. In just the past year twenty million people registered on EHarmony, which cost $59.99 a month, almost $60 to meet people online.

To no surprise, 20% of new divorce cases contain the word “Facebook” in their divorce papers. 30% of “singles” on online dating sites aren’t singletons.

Malinda Peine, a teacher here at RAL in occupational classes, says that online dating is like the country singer Brad Paisley’s song “I’m So Much Cooler Online.” You never know who you are really talking to.

“It’s hard to meet people in our society. Many people don’t really get out as much as they use to, so it’s hard to meet someone just around town,” Peine said.

The Shady Side

29,000 is the number of convicted sex-offenders found on MySpace when they first found out these sex-offenders were logging on.

Police originally thought there were about 7,000 but they found 29,000 instead.

According to techcrunch.com, today that number has grown from the 29,000 to 90,000 sex-offenders on a MySpace that anyone could be on including your younger sister or brother , and are probably using everyday.

Kylee McGeary was completely shocked that there were that many people online with that kind of a title.

 “That is the creepiest thing ever!” McGeary said.

Also, 40% of the people that get on these online dating sites are already married and probably have families.

If people get onto a site, and meet someone, they could have a wife or husband.

 

The Good Side

A positive thing about online dating is that 33% of all the conversations that happen on the dating sites lead to a date.

However, more men than women use the sites. Therefore, it would be harder for a man to get a match, since there aren’t as many women online.

“It’s not safe to date online. You never know if they [who you are talking to] are really who they say they are,” McGeary said.

Peine agrees that it’s unsafe, and that the expectations are unreal and too picky.

“You can just throw out a request if you don’t like the look of it, and it might be a really great person,” Peine said.