A new survey in the USA reveals that social media is used as a tool for flirting amongst teens
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You’re at a dinner party, and much to your trauma, your father starts fondly recalling the story of how he first spotted your mom in college and fell for her. Meanwhile, you take out your smartphone, send a friend request to the pretty girl who smiled at you from across the table, and then resume watching your folks gush and blush.
Welcome to the digital age where online networks are the ultimate tools to initiate flirting. A recent study by the Pew Research Centre conducted among US teens, has revealed that that social media is used to ‘like’, comment on, ‘friend’ or joke around with someone they have a crush on — with ‘technology a major vehicle towards expressing interest in a potential partner.’
“It’s very true. With the invention of apps like Tinder, people don’t even believe in approaching someone personally. It’s gotten to a point that if someone actually approached me, I’d end up getting creeped out. Many use social media to show off — especially when they’re in relationships. Nowadays, if you want to know what kind of person your crush is — you just stalk their profiles. You don’t even talk to them first,” says 17-year-old musician Varshita Ramesh. On Tinder, you can electronically signal that you like a person’s profile by merely ‘swiping right’ on it, and that may well signal the end of face-to-face proposals.
She adds, “I think it’s a terrible thing but it’s become inevitable. I quote ‘All connected but barely connecting’.” The survey, conducted between the ages of 13 and 17 said only 35 percent had been in a romantic relationship, but 55 percent had talked to someone in person to let them know they are interested. Pew also found 31 percent of teens had sent flirtatious messages, 10 percent had sent photos and seven percent had made a video as part of the process.
Twelfth grader Varsha Vadlamani says in a city like Chennai, this trend will really hit its peak among the teen population soon. “I know many people who have been talking to guys/girls for a good couple of months and they wouldn’t have even met. And this leads to picture exchanges, maybe not too extreme — but as simple as a DP selection. And no, it’s not just the guys — girls are as outgoing these days!”
But the study also added that the same media can be conduits for jealousy, meddling and troubling behaviour — with blocking/ unfriending someone masking the embarrassment, rumours being spread and deleting an ex-partner’s profile also happening on a regular basis. “And even if they’re blocked, they open a new profile with female pictures, stalk your friend list and try to add your friends too only because they think that mutual friends would make it easier for them to get their friend request confirmation,” sighs fashion and style blogger Priyanka Manohar.
Ultimately, it’s safe to assume that this medium of flirting is here to stay — but it doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to, as YouTuber Syed Mohsin says, “Studying in an all-boys school, a lot of friends and I joined Orkut just to talk to girls. I remember this incident when my friend was actually ‘chatting’ with a fancy-sounding girl who he thought speaks British accent wala English. But when he met her, she went, Thoda jo aap English mein bolay, Hindi mein batao na! (‘Please repeat in Hindi what you just said in English’).”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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