Eichen­berg, Huss & Küsel (2017): From online dating to online divorce

ABSTRACT

The deve­lop­ment of digi­tal media over the last 20 years has led to seis­mic chan­ges wit­hin many aspects of daily life. This inclu­des nume­rous facets of family rela­ti­ons­hips that have not escaped the digi­tal revo­lu­tion of the last two deca­des. From the very early sta­ges of initia­ting rela­ti­ons­hips to types of post-break-up beha­vi­ors, the Inter­net has the poten­tial to play an influ­en­tial role in all areas of family and par­ti­cu­larly couple rela­ti­ons­hips. This paper exami­nes how ICTs (“infor­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­no­logy”) can shape such rela­ti­ons­hips. The impact on the various sta­ges of rela­ti­ons­hips is sys­te­ma­ti­zed (rela­ti­ons­hip deve­lop­ment, couple and family for­ma­tion, sepa­ra­tion) with a spe­cial focus on inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal oppor­tu­nities and con­flicts asso­cia­ted with modern media usage. Against the back­ground of psy­cho­lo­gi­cal and media com­mu­ni­ca­tion theo­ries and psy­cho­the­ra­peutic approa­ches as well as empi­ri­cal fin­dings the fol­lo­wing topics are con­side­red: 1. Initia­tion of rela­ti­ons­hips through ICTs (e.g. meet new part­ners through online dating); 2. Impact of digi­tal media on rela­ti­ons­hip deve­lop­ment and exis­ting part­nerships (e.g. new oppor­tu­nities and internet-related chal­len­ges that have to be faced by cou­ples) 3. Influ­ence of ICTs on sepa­ra­ti­ons (e.g. online media­tion, get­ting divorced online). In sum­mary, the role of ICTs in new, exis­ting and sepa­ra­ted part­nerships and fami­lies is mul­ti­fa­ce­ted. An out­look on fur­ther deve­lop­ments as well as rese­arch desi­de­rata is given.

Eichen­berg, C., Huss, J. & Küsel, C. (2017). From online dating to online divorce: An over­view of couple and family rela­ti­ons­hips shaped though digi­tal media. Con­tem­porary Family The­rapy, 39, 249–260.