On The App By Jenna Wortham Summary

In the article, “I Had a Nice Time With You Tonight. On the App,” written by Jenna Wortham from The New York Times, she talks about how social media and other applications affect people in relationships. Many people believe that technology and dating apps let individuals feel closer to one another even if they are thousands of miles apart. Others, however, believe that interaction through phones is causing relationships and meeting people to be less genuine. Even though Wortham has evidence that technology hinders relationships, she believes that applications can help individuals feel closer to each other. In Wortham’s article, she tries to demonstrate how technology can help with relationships, especially long distant ones. The recurrence

Tinder is now known by many as the “hook-up app.” People do not use Tinder to find a relationship; they use it for one-night stands. Natasha Koifman, president of NKPR, believes, “apps like Tinder can also help your love life by exposing you to potential dates you might not have met through the usual day-to-day routines” (2014). Many people are shy, so they may not feel comfortable going up to a stranger and talking to them. Tinder makes individuals feel able to communicate with people they do not know but find attractive. Over a third of today’s marriages come from the internet (Koifman, 2014). Since then, many different apps have been created, like Match.com, HowAboutWe, and You & Me. These apps are more directed towards building and maintaining a relationship. Many websites have been created to find a relationship, so after the users find their match, they then stop using the site. The creators began finding ways to keep them on their site. Aaron Schildkrout of You & Me added another version, which allows people to send pictures and videos back and forth to each

They say that it starts out as a simple chat, which is good, but then the two individuals never meet up and just have an internet relationship. The author of the app, Alone Together, Sherry Turkle expresses, “What starts out being better than nothing becomes better than anything;” (as cited in Wortham, 2014) which is hard to argue. Her statement is true, but the people who want the relationship will not just resort to technology. They will use it to benefit themselves. She does mention, that technology has had a positive influence in her life: it makes her want to meet up with people. According to Micha Issitt, the author of “The Effect of Mobile Devices on Personal Relationships,” points out that even though there is research to show downfalls of technology, there is also others to show the positive, like “helping people to stay close despite physical separation” (2016). Since there can be constant communication when hours apart, when the time together does come, the couples bond is stronger. Koifman statement goes along with Issitt, “I think online communication can even make face-to-face, offline relationships stronger” (2014). If the physical connection cannot be there, there are still ways to make the couple feel