Relationships in the era of digitalization: should virtual relationships become the norm in society

Virtual reality is rapidly taking over our world, offering the opportunity to communicate, work and even fall in love without leaving home. Turn on the computer – and you are already in another world, among friends, in an impeccably created environment, where everything is just the way you like it. More and more people are starting to see virtual reality as more than entertainment.  This is a new reality in which the possibilities are endless. But can this virtual world replace real human communication? And what happens to our ability to build relationships if we choose to communicate through VR over face-to-face meetings? Will these virtual relationships become the new norm in society? Will they do more good, freeing us from the constraints of the real world, or, on the contrary, deprive us of depth and true emotion, plunging us into an abyss of social isolation? While some see virtual reality as the future of human relationships, others worry that reality may eventually lose its value.

The popularity of virtual reality in numbers

We live in an era when the Internet and social networks have already become an integral part of life. Every day, people from any corner of the world communicate, exchange news, share impressions literally in a matter of seconds.

According to the data research DataReportal, there are 29.64 million active Internet users in Ukraine, which is 79.2% of the population. 82% of users necessarily have an account in at least one of the social networks. The number of users of social networks increased by 5.6% over the past year and continues to grow. Among the most common reasons for using Internet resources, respondents named:

• information search – 60.9%;
• maintaining contact with relatives and friends – 56.6%;
• watching videos and movies – 52.3%;
• watching news – 51.9%.

According to the data According to the Digital 2024 Global Overview Report, 65% of the population of Ukraine actively uses social networks. 38.5% of users noted that they simply kill time in this way.

The top popular internet platforms include:

• Facebook – 3 billion users;
• YouTube – 2.4 billion users;
• WhatsApp and Instagram – 2 billion users each;
• TikTok – 1.5 billion users;
• Telegram – 800 million users.

According to scientists, the minimum time a user spends on social networks is 3 hours. It should be noted that almost every user starts his day by viewing information on social networks and visits his page at least twice during the day.

According to Statista, there are about 30.4 million users of virtual dating resources in the United States. This number tends to increase. By the end of 2024, more than 35 million Americans and 277 million people worldwide are expected to find a romantic partner online.

According to statistics, only 42% of users of dating apps intend to get married after online dating, and only 13% of such dating ends in marriage.

Recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, together with the Ministry of Justice, launched the online marriage function through the “Diya” application.  The new service immediately gained popularity among application users. Only in the first three days of the launch, more than 416,000 marriage proposals were made. Of them, 50,000 have a positive answer.

According to the Ministry of Statistics, 1,247 couples applied for marriage, and 197 couples were already married during the launch of the beta test of the service.

“Thanks to online marriage, military and couples who are far from each other will be able to get married despite the circumstances, the distance between cities or even countries.” – the head of the Ministry of Digitization, Mykhailo Fedorov, explains the benefits of the newly created function.

It is obvious that at such rates the new function of marriage is already becoming a popular trend in Ukrainian society. And the Internet space even began to be flooded with new memes that make fun of a virtual wedding, where an online toastmaster talks about the acquaintance of newlyweds on Tinder for guests on Zoom. And then everyone cuts the wedding cake together in the SapCut program. But, as they say, there is a grain of truth in every joke, and realizing this makes it creepy.  Will the time really soon come when people will be able to create a family with just one click, and then communicate for the rest of their lives with the help of emoticons and meetings on Zoom or Viber?

Creating a marriage function in the Action application is both a revolutionary step and a certain loss of human warmth. It is impossible not to notice the convenience of this function. After all, now there is no need to run to the RAC, stand in lines or fill out endless paper forms. Everything becomes fast, convenient, available in a few clicks. In today’s world, where time is the most valuable resource, this solution looks like an ideal answer to today’s challenges. Instead of worrying about bureaucracy, people can focus on their future.

But at the same time there is a feeling that we are losing something important. Marriage is not just a legal act, it is an event that should be full of emotions, excitement, celebrations that will be memories for a lifetime. The very first steps to marriage – filling out an application together, nervously waiting for the day of registration – become simplified, almost mechanical. With one click in the smartphone, part of the magic of this moment is lost. Everything that was once filled with excitement and joyous anticipation can become just another thing on the to-do list for the day.

The function of marrying online is useful and practical, but at the same time it kills those thin, invisible threads of emotions that create the true meaning of marriage. A decision that was once the result of deep feelings and experiences may now look like another point in digital life. Perhaps the registration function is an effective solution, but are we not losing a part of our soul along with this, turning even the most intimate decisions into mechanical clicks?

Digitization of love in foreign countries

It is obvious that social networks have become almost the most important assistant in creating modern romantic relationships. In developed countries, every fifth couple was formed due to the fact that future partners found each other on the Internet.

So, in the USA, social networks significantly influence the formation and development of relationships. A tenth of officially registered married couples in the USA were formed thanks to acquaintances on social networks. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and other applications that unite millions of users have become the main sites for dating.  People who do not have time to meet in public, or are simply shy, have the opportunity to get to know each other by viewing accounts with all the necessary information about each other.  However, such acquaintances have disadvantages. For example, the culture of “swiping”, when you get used to flipping through accounts like the pages of a book, sometimes leads to superficial relationships, where partners are often changed without delving deeper into emotions. Although, there are rare cases when social networks allow couples to be closer, maintaining communication at a distance.

The French, known for their attention to romance, have also adapted social media to modern love. Facebook and Instagram allow them to share their personal lives, including relationships, but there is also a certain “digital ethics” involved. They often choose privacy on the networks, avoiding too much publicity of their romantic moments, trying to keep intimate relationships private.

India in general has a unique experience where social networks are helping to change traditional approaches to marriage. Platforms like Facebook help young people meet, choose partners, which often goes against the traditional path of “arranged marriages” that is generally accepted in the country. Social networks allow more freedom for individual choices, especially among young people. Although this approach still faces resistance from conservative parts of society.

In the Scandinavian countries, social networks actively support the culture of equal relations. Social media is used for open and honest discussions about love, family and gender roles. Platforms like Instagram often become spaces for promoting healthy relationships, discussing sexuality and gender equality.

Perhaps social networks make it possible to find partners, even over long distances or in culturally closed environments. Distance and bureaucracy are now defeated. But at the same time, quick decisions in dating apps can lead to short-lived, superficial and even just consumer relationships among people, like a product in a store.

In addition, social media can create tension through overly public relationships, likes and comments from outsiders. Canadian researchers from the University of Guelph asked 300 Facebook users aged 17-24 the question “are they jealous when their partner adds a stranger of the opposite sex as a friend?”  and found out that women most often experience jealousy, and social networks themselves contribute to growing anxiety about the quality of romantic relationships.

If such online happy marriages did not begin to end in mutual claims and quick divorces against the background of such publicity. And there is little benefit from online communication. People may begin to value online communication more than real emotional contact.

It would seem that virtual relationships have many advantages. In virtual reality, you can be anyone. It doesn’t matter how you look or what complexes hold you in real life – in the virtual world everyone is equal. There you can create an ideal version of yourself, communicate with people from different parts of the world, visit exotic places without leaving your home. It is like an escape from the mundane and the limitations imposed on us by the physical body and social norms.

VR social platforms allow you to build friendships or even romantic relationships without fear of rejection or embarrassment. People who experience difficulties in real life, such as shyness or social phobias, find in VR a new way to interact with the world. It almost sounds like a revolution in human relations.

But isn’t this just an illusion? Virtual reality, despite all its advantages, cannot replace real human emotions and physical presence. Research shows that real communication, eye contact, touch and time together have a huge impact on our emotional state. People who immerse themselves in virtual life risk losing these important aspects of social interaction, remaining physically alienated even when they are “next to” hundreds of people in the virtual world.

So the digitization of relationships creates a comfortable but dangerous trap. In the pursuit of an ideal world, we can lose the ability to interact in reality. Virtual relationships don’t have the depth that real relationships can offer. Imagine that your life is filled with meetings in virtual bars, parks, and your friends are just avatars on the screen. Will you feel real support in difficult moments? Can hugs in virtual reality replace the real warmth of the human body?

Society risks finding itself in a situation where virtual relationships will become the new norm. This is a threat that can lead to mass isolation when people lose interest in the real world. A lack of genuine interaction will lead to emotional apathy and alienation. Even those who successfully adapt to the virtual world may lose the ability to build real, deep relationships.

Today, when the modern world is changing rapidly, we are faced with a choice: to accept virtual reality as a new form of communication or to fight for the preservation of real human relationships. Technology gives us incredible opportunities, but we must remember that humanity cannot be replaced by pixels. Virtual reality can be an addition to our life, but not its replacement.