Acquaintances of past generations were limited by geography and their growth was linear. A person had access to a small number of potential partners, depending on where he lived, where he studied, and also on his social status. In the sixties of the last century, more than 50 percent of marriages worldwide and about 95 percent of marriages in India were concluded by agreement between the parents of the bride and groom. In 1960, the average age of first marriage for a bride was 20 and the groom was 23. Today this age is close to 29 for women and 30 for men. A cultural shift is taking place, and it is leading to dramatic changes. Dating went from local to global, and from linear to digital and exponential. Today, forty million Americans use online dating services (about 40 percent of the total number of single people), which has already led to the creation of the Internet dating industry, which reached 2.4 billion dollars.
These services transcend geographic constraints and social strata. People from all over the world find each other. Between 1995 and 2005, there was an exponential increase in the number of heterosexual couples who met online.
As for same-sex couples, the number of online dating among them is even greater: in 2008-2009, more than 60 percent of such couples met on the Internet.
The consequences of all these changes are simply stunning. In addition to the shift in the average age of marriage, there are a number of other sociological effects, such as decision fatigue, the transformation of dating into a game, and depersonalization of people. In the near future, they will influence demographic indicators, since the dating mechanism is fundamentally changing. And this is just the beginning.
Dating and technology
In the very near future, we will see "marriage agencies" based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, which will find a match for a person using genome analysis or psychographic characteristics. During a date, augmented reality glasses will give each partner any necessary information at the moment when they need it. Perhaps someone wants to understand how his partner or partner is feeling, and his augmented reality camera will figure this out by observing the contraction and dilation of the pupils, as well as the redness of the face. Like all technologies, it will be a double-edged sword. Hopefully, she will increase the number of successful and serious relationships around the world and thus have a positive effect. But while dating is only one side of the coin, the other side is sex.and here the consequences of modern technology can be completely shocking.
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Sex and exponential technology
Sex is already digitized today. This means that he is dematerialized, demonized and democratized. Sex in the form of pornography is free, available to anyone with an Internet connection, and widespread across many platforms. In 2015, only one porn site reported that its users spent 4.3 billion hours per year watching porn products (87 billion videos). The proliferation of internet access, internet video players, video streaming, mobile phones, and delivery networks have turned pornography into a whopping $ 97 billion market. This led to the emergence of a number of negative social phenomena. More than half of boys and nearly a third of girls see their first pornographic images before they turn thirteen. In a sociological survey, which was attended by hundreds of students,93 percent of boys and girls said they saw pornography before they turned 18. "Pornography affects everything from how teens perceive and talk about sex, how and why they get pierced on certain parts of their body, to what they expect from intimate relationships, what they want to get and what - to give." - said researcher at the Witherspoon Institute Jill Manning.
There is a growing number of men in Japan who say they prefer having "virtual girlfriends" over actual sex. In other words, they find it better to date virtual avatars, whose behavior they mostly control. According to opinion polls, about 45 percent of unmarried women and 25 percent of unmarried men in Japan between the ages of 16 and 24 say they are not interested in actual sexual contact at all. Given these trends, unless something extraordinary happens that can raise the birth rate, Japan's population will decline by a third by 2060. In other words, there is serious concern about the significant decline in population density.
Again, this is just the beginning. As virtual reality becomes more widespread, VR pornography will inevitably be one of its main uses. It will be a much more intense, vivid and exciting spectacle, and when artificial intelligence goes online, many experts believe that sex with an AI avatar and robotic partners similar to the characters in the films "She" and "From the Machine" will become more common.
Effects
VR pornography promises to fill the virtual world with even more, better quality sex with new varieties. However, the flip side of the coin is that the deeper the user plunges into the fantasy world, the more likely it is that there will be no sex at all in his real life. Many psychologists argue that VR pornography can take a hard hit on people's ability to have sex drive and pleasure, and this will lead to less and less satisfying real sex. For many, virtual reality, as well as other modern technologies, will completely replace real intimacy and human relationships as it becomes more accessible, cheap and manageable. Parents today cannot remain indifferent to this prospect. However, one should askAre there any positive aspects to this? Perhaps it will add a little intimacy to the lives of those who are weak, old, crippled, and therefore alone. It's hard to say for sure. However, one thing can be said today: as has happened with all technologies in history, from the print press to VHS tapes and the Internet, pornography will be one of the main sources of funding for technological progress.
Igor Abramov