Material from the cycle 'Offtopic', which talks about current trends and norms in relation to the 'participation' of smartphones and other devices in our personal life.
The other day, while reading news feeds, my eye caught on material that cited research from Research Now and match.com, an online dating site. The article talked about some of the results of a survey conducted in December 2016 among 5509 participants of different genders aged 18 to 70 years. It should be understood that mainly American single users took part in the survey, but the results did not become less indicative of this. So, let's go directly to the results and try to interpret them.
Technological taboos
When it comes to the first date, then often both parties face many questions and ethical problems, everyone wants to show their best side and at the same time learn as much as possible about a promising partner. Among other generally accepted rules of etiquette, the millennials surveyed highlighted the following points:
- 75% consider it unacceptable to answer a sudden call during a date without a proper reason and without explanation. It is somewhat unjustified, because at the stage of acquaintance there is still no understanding of a person's activities, but this does not negate the negative nature of such an act. At least one can apologize and explain the urgency of the call. Otherwise, do not answer.
- 66% of respondents do not approve of the fact of correspondence of the interlocutor with someone on a date. An understandable step, such behavior indicates a lack of interest and banal disrespect. Otherwise, why go on a date, you can limit yourself to correspondence.
- 58% of users are against having a smartphone face up on the table in front of a potential partner. Here, depending on how to consider, if a person constantly glances at the screen in anticipation of notifications, then yes, it is not pleasant, but if he plays the role of a status object, which is what users often sin with, then it is difficult to make any claims.
- 57% of survey participants will be upset by the fact that the interlocutor read the message. And it does not stipulate the conduct of correspondence, just reading. But you can understand.
- Finally, if the interlocutor is forced to leave (to the restroom or to the street) and at the same time takes the phone with him, then 41% of the respondents will consider this rude and will see this act as a sign of distrust. It's hard to say, for some, the first date is just a way to look at the person, there are situations when such meetings take place spontaneously, without prior communication. So a person can subconsciously reinsure himself, which, of course, causes not entirely pleasant emotions.
At first glance, everything is quite adequate, few people want to contact someone who frenziedly updates social media feeds and stares endlessly at the screen. And no matter how they talk about the attractiveness of geeks, the latter can not always boast of advanced social skills; rather, on the contrary, they slightly move away from generally accepted norms and prefer to live in their own special world.
Social network component
In general, dating as a way to get to know a person has been minimized as much as possible by social networks. Why organize a meeting with an incomprehensible and unknown person if you have at your fingertips the quintessence of his preferences, lifestyle, thoughts and 'yourself' on the background of the carpet photos from Instagram? The element of personal acquaintance is now secondary and relevant only if a person is interested after meeting his profile on the social network. By the way, the respondents also have a number of comments on the latter:
- Too active users Facebook will not find approval from 50% of respondents. Few people like to contemplate dozens of reposts of articles with insignificant semantic load and comments with the use of decadent pigeons in a person's actions every day
(eupochia).It's good that you can unsubscribe from notifications. - 58% are very categorical towards those who use social networks as a way to complain about everything around them (housing and communal services, dumplings, the dollar rate, politics, malaise, neighbors, milk prices, etc.), not considering it necessary to make acquaintance with such characters.
- But it is not all that bad. 26% of the survey participants, according to one of the journalists, represent humanity's hope for a brighter future: they supported the thesis about the attractiveness of a person who does not have an active network social life and does not conduct video blogs on his super popular channel, in simple words – a person from the real world.
Image and appearance
Lucky wallpaper
No, it's not about a designer suit and a haute couture dress, the exterior of the device and its 'age' are a separate item.
- 14% of singles will not appreciate the signals from pressing the screen or keyboard. And it is not at all necessary to have OCD, if a person hears these sounds, then the interlocutor is not entirely interested in the conversation, a similar scenario has already been mentioned above.
- For 86% of users, the opinion of a person will deteriorate if their device has a broken screen. Apparently, not everyone considers this a work of art and a manifestation of courage before the risk of cutting a finger. Therefore, you need to negotiate plans before a date on the stationary phone and leave your mobile at home.
- 56% of the polled representatives of the fair sex believe that they will be unlucky with dates this year due to the reason that their smartphone is outdated in relation to other models of the line at the time. That is, the smartphone has become such a status thing that its 'age' becomes an obstacle to success in your personal life? As one of the characters used to say, “It's all going to hell too fast.”
- Well, the overwhelming 92% of ladies allow themselves to negatively judge the interlocutor if he could not afford the latest device and is 'forced' to walk with a smartphone of the past or the year before last. Interestingly, at a glance, they can determine belonging to a particular line depending on the year of release? With Android – devices such a trick will not work. Oh, wait …
'iPhone and Android, to be honest, they are not a couple …'
Echoes of the 'holy war' or theater of the absurd? It's hard to say, but the confrontation between the two operating systems in some incomprehensible way for an adequate person has come to an aspect that seems to have nothing to do with technology. Nevertheless, we have come close to the most interesting. Users iPhone are 21 times more likely to be inclined to condemn the interlocutor with the Android – device and most of them consider the same users of gadgets with the bull's eye as a potential partner. In turn, the owners of Android – devices are 15 times more likely to snort contemptuously at the sight of i-devices in the hands of a promising partner.
How is this to be understood? Yes, there was an opinion that the owners iPhone are usually more wealthy, but now the situation has almost smoothed out, the cost of smartphones has become approximately equal. But how can one judge by such signs? What kind of gadget snobbery? Do people think the phone manufacturer is a cause for future controversy? Or don't you agree to condescend to communicate outside of iMessage? Stop the planet, please. No, a couple more questions. So, users Android are more promiscuous and messy in relationships if they are not averse to building relationships with the owner iPhone? And what about those who have Windows Phone, no one wants to have anything to do with them at all, according to the 'research'? Laughter and tears, to be honest. The hypocrisy of the generation is unpleasantly surprising, it remains to be hoped that this is just a small cut of thinking that is not typical for us.
Instead of a conclusion, I would like to wish users to think in the right direction, not to judge a person by accessories and external manifestations of wealth and to avoid patterns of behavior and prejudices imposed by unknown people. If the brain is confused, listen to the heart. If it can't help, then maybe it's not worth it, isn't that the case?