Research Paper Sample on Online Dating

Additionally, the gender ratio in the online dating sites is not balanced with research indicating that women are the majority looking for online dating services and have made more subscriptions than men. It is an issue of concern because women surpass the number of men and for every woman to get a mate the ratio has to be two women for one man (Guadago et al., 2012). It is a scenario that is not welcoming to most people because each wants a mate for themselves. The imbalance in gender accounts for the high rates of women falling victims of sexual abuse and conning from men.

Besides, some online dating sites have fraudulent charges on the members where once the subscriptions are made the services are not provided according to the terms and conditions agreed upon (Guadago et al., 2012). It then results in a breach of contract because the members do not enjoy the services they have paid.

Legal aspects

As a result of the several anomalies related to the online dating, lawsuits have been filed against the service providers for colluding with fraudsters and participating in giving false information (Guadago et al., 2012). Investigations indicate that in 2012 some dating sites, for instance, match.com failed to do away with inactive profiles and some contained images of porn actresses to lure people into subscribing for the services (Finkel et al., 2012). Besides, another issue of concerning successful match online dating sites falsified information that is was offering services for people with HIV/AIDS, gays, Christians blacks among others yet all this did not match up to what they alleged to be providing. It is paramount to note that several online dating sites have faced legal charges for fraudulent information and substandard services they offer (Finkel et al., 2012). The online dating sites can, therefore, be dangerous because they provide false information to attract more people into using the sites and promoting adverts for better pay while neglecting the actual role that it is supposed to play.

Government regulations

In the United States of America, the government started regulating the online dating through the international marriage broker regulation act which became active from 2007 and the rules require that the dating sites meet specific criteria before they are allowed to offer services to the public (Finkel et al., 2012). One of the laws states that the dating sites are supposed to provide benefits to the US citizens by linking them with people from foreign countries. Besides, the sites are supposed to conduct any sex offender checks on people before they are registered in the online dating sites to be members. In republics like China transnational hookups are not allowed, and an online dating site should only offer services to the Chinese nationals (Finkel et al., 2012). It is worth noting that government regulations vary from one country to another.

It is important to note that online dating has been beneficial to people by enabling them to get an easy way of establishing relationships and finding soul mates and some have found lifetime partners in such sites. Besides, the traditional complexities that are associated with dating have been reduced because people have minimized the dating space to that which can only be occupied by two people. Similarly, the trans-regional and mixed races relationships have increased because the sites have led to a more natural interaction of people across the globe. When the members launch communications, they can decide to restrict their relationship to the online space or take it to the next level where they arrange for their physical meeting upon the convenience of each party. The online dating companies in most cases are not responsible in case anything happens to either side. It is paramount to note that they only link people via the online space and any other arrangements including personal security is left to the members. On the contrary, the dating sites have been used by fraudsters to con money from others and even abuse them sexually. The con artists provide false information about themselves, and they lure innocent people into traps so that they can exploit them sexually and obtain other material things. Despite the cons associated with online dating it remains to be a more natural way of establishing relationships that are stable and can exist for a lifetime.

References

Ellison, N. B., Hancock, J. T., & Toma, C. L. (2012). Profile as a promise: A framework forconceptualizing veracity in online dating self-presentations. new media & society, 14(1), 45-62.

Finkel, E. J., Eastwick, P. W., Karney, B. R., Reis, H. T., & Sprecher, S. (2012). Online dating: A critical analysis from the perspective of psychological science. Psychological Sciencein the Public Interest, 13(1), 3-66.

Guadagno, R. E., Okdie, B. M., & Kruse, S. A. (2012). Dating deception: Gender, online dating, and exaggerated self-presentation. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 642-647.

Smith, A. W., & Duggan, M. (2013). Online Dating & Relationship. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.