Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)
Online dating sites have become hugely popular and powerful forums for forming interpersonal relationships. As a consequence, the influence of digital modes of communication on the nature of interpersonal intimacy has become a highly relevant issue that requires scientific examination from many different perspectives. The main aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of intimacy of a cohort of individuals who used online dating to seek a connection/ relationship(s) with others. Given the specific research questions and the nature of the phenomenon involved, a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, located within the interpretive paradigm, and grounded by the philosophical thinking of Heidegger and Gadamer was deemed an appropriate means of inquiry. Given observations that there may be distinct differences in the nature of agendas and, possibly, meanings that individuals who find themselves in different age cohorts and development phases attach to intimacy, the research inquiry focused on the experiences of a group of middle-aged online daters.
Fifteen participants, of whom seven were men and eight were women, participated in the study. Their ages ranged between 45 years and 68 years with a mean of 58.13 years. All described themselves as heterosexual in their orientation to mate seeking. A combination of
in-depth F2F interviews and written narratives were used for collecting data. Two participants chose to submit exclusively narrative accounts of their experiences; eight participants opted for F2F interviews as the sole basis of the research interaction; five participants opted for a combination of a F2F interview and the submission of some supplementary written notes. The analysis was conducted in a way that was congruent with the philosophical foundation of Heidegger and Gadamer. From this vantage point, the process of analysis was aimed at identifying the horizons of meaning from which participants re-membered and re-lived and made meaning of their experiences and their ways of being intimate in a cyber context.
The findings revealed intimacy as constructed and lived online to be a multifaceted phenomenon. Six distinct horizons emerged from the analysis, each of which illuminated the lived experience of the phenomenon from a specific vantage point. The horizon of Situatedness located participants in the contexts from whence they embarked on their online journey(s). The next four horizons, namely, A Seductive Space, The Multifarious Shapes of Time, The Contentious Body, and The Revealing and Concealing Text reflected constituents of participants’ experiences of intimate relating that may, compared to intimate relating in the F2F realm, be uniquely related to the mediated medium of the internet and to being-in-cyberspace as a world. The final horizon,..