This assignment was also connected to assignment 1, because it required me to make a response to the posts in that assignment from my all of my chat group members. In the responses, we had to discuss whether we found similar findings to be the most or the least surprising.
I only have one other person in my chat group, a girl named Weiyan. So, for this assignment, I just had to reply to her post. The two findings she found surprising were that “19% of Brides Said They Met Their Spouses Online”, and “41% of Americans know someone who uses online dating; 29% know someone who has met a spouse or long-term partner via online dating”. The two findings she was least surprised about were “Online dating has jumped among adults under age 25 as well as those in their late 50s and early 60s” and “53% of people lie on their online dating profile”.
In response to her post, I discussed how we seem to have similar beliefs on online dating. She mentioned how one of the findings that most surprised you was that “19% of Brides Said They Met Their Spouses Online”. I also found this finding to be one of the most surprising for me, and talked about it in my post! I agree with that being surprising because I expect that more people will meet during college or through friends than online.
I liked that she was not surprised by the finding that “Online dating has jumped among adults under age 25 as well as those in their late 50s and early 60s”, because I also felt this way. In the modern day, essentially all age groups are using the internet, more than ever before, so I would expect online dating to become more popular.
She found the finding “41% of Americans know someone who uses online dating; 29% know someone who has met a spouse or long-term partner via online dating” to be surprising. I disagreed with her, because the internet is becoming so widely used, and people have increasingly large social networks. So, I feel that it is easy to know someone who uses or met a spouse through online dating, even if it is just knowing one person who has done it.
She was not surprised that “53% of people lie on their online dating profile”. Although I didn’t list this in my post, I was not surprised by it either, since I have also heard that many people choose to do it. I
So, we shared 2 of our 4 answers, and I agree with a third, even though I didn’t list it. We had pretty similar thoughts overall on the subject.
Reflecting on this assignment, I always enjoy reading Weiyan’s responses. From my experiences with her, she seems like a very intellectual person, and always seems to have strong insights and interesting ideas. It also allows me to get to know her a little better, seeing what she thinks and what she believes in. In this case, I found out that we think along similar lines for the topic of online dating!
Additionally, since the responses were to posts made in a different assignment a couple of days prior, it allowed me to review what we had learned. Reading through some of the findings again allowed them to stick in my head, and I will likely remember them longer due to repeated exposure.
Although this was a fairly quick assignment, it is still useful because it allows us to interact with others. Assignments in most classes are individual, and we submit our thoughts and answers only to the teachers. However, in this course, we interact with our classmates and respond positively to one another. This makes the time spent working on the course more meaningful, so I am thankful for assignments like this!
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