The efficiency paradox: A temporal lens into online dating among Chinese immigrants in Canada.

IF 2.3 3区 心理学 Q1 COMMUNICATION
Manlin Cai, Yue Qian, Yang Hu
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Abstract

Online dating is widely assumed to enhance the overall efficiency of relationship formation through expanding the pool of potential partners. Yet little is known about how this presumed efficiency plays out beyond the initial search stage. Although temporal compression (i.e., saving time) is considered central to the notion of efficiency, individuals' lived realities of time and efficiency in online dating remain understudied. Adopting a grounded theory approach to analyzing 31 in-depth interviews with heterosexual Chinese immigrant online daters in Canada, we reveal how time-related expectations and experiences shaped their perceptions of (in)efficiency throughout different stages of online dating. Specifically, our participants started with an efficiency expectation of temporal compression, expecting online dating to save time. As the dating process unfolded, however, they experienced inefficiency through diverse temporalities, including temporal suspension and simultaneity in mediated communication and temporal reconfiguration during modality switching. These experiences contradicted our participants' initial efficiency expectation, prompting some to reevaluate their expectation and develop a preference for temporal slowdown in dating. Our findings highlight an "efficiency paradox" whereby the promise of efficiency not only runs counter to online daters' lived realities but also amplifies perceptions of inefficiency. Foregrounding the voices of racial minority immigrants, our study challenges the commonly envisioned efficiency of online dating and provides new insights into how digital technologies mediate intimate lives through shaping individuals' temporal experiences.

效率悖论:加拿大华人移民网上约会的时间视角。
人们普遍认为,网上约会可以扩大潜在伴侣的范围,从而提高关系形成的整体效率。然而,对于这种假定的效率在初始搜索阶段之后如何发挥作用,人们知之甚少。虽然时间压缩(即节省时间)被认为是效率概念的核心,但个人在网上约会中生活的时间和效率的现实仍未得到充分研究。我们采用扎根理论的方法,分析了31个对加拿大异性恋中国移民在线约会者的深度访谈,揭示了在在线约会的不同阶段,与时间相关的期望和经历如何塑造了他们对效率的看法。具体来说,我们的参与者从时间压缩的效率期望开始,期望在线约会节省时间。然而,随着约会过程的展开,他们通过不同的时间性经历了效率低下,包括中介沟通中的时间暂停和同时性以及模式转换中的时间重构。这些经历与我们的参与者最初的效率预期相矛盾,促使一些人重新评估他们的预期,并对约会中的时间放缓产生偏好。我们的研究结果强调了一个“效率悖论”,即对效率的承诺不仅与在线约会者的生活现实背道而驰,而且还放大了对效率低下的看法。我们的研究以少数族裔移民的声音为背景,挑战了人们普遍认为的在线约会效率,并为数字技术如何通过塑造个人的时间体验来调节亲密生活提供了新的见解。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.30
自引率
17.90%
发文量
187
期刊介绍: The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships is an international and interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research on social and personal relationships. JSPR is the leading journal in the field, publishing empirical and theoretical papers on social and personal relationships. It is multidisciplinary in scope, drawing material from the fields of social psychology, clinical psychology, communication, developmental psychology, and sociology.
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