The advancements made in technology in the past couple of decades have been incredible. Humans have gone from using basic PCs to being able to have access to an unlimited amount of information in the palm of our hands. In recent years, due to the increase in technology use and the advancements that humans have made, things such as cell phones, social networks, and media have become a routine form of human interaction. Humans are even going as far as creating applications, such as Tinder or Grinder, that serve more as a temporary rendezvous then permanent relationship. These apps solely rely on pictures of people and depending on whether or not the person browsing finds you attractive, he or she can open up a conversation. Dating apps, and especially texting, have influenced and impacted our youth culture by creating a society that depends on technology to make human connections. Several articles have been published that discuss the problems with exposing technology to children and the impact it has on their psyche. Scientific studies and experiments have been conducted, mainly with teenagers that shed a dark light on the usage of technology. The studies have found that use of social media and texting has led to bullying, more violent relationships, jealousy among couples, and distrust in relationships. Scientist found simple acts, such as couples posting a photo on Facebook with the opposite sex that wasn't their boyfriend or girlfriend to cause discomfort and paranoia in couples. Technological communication such as texting leads to decreased social skills in teenagers and social. This is due to that fact that there is no actual confrontation involved when texting someone. Scientist also discovered that teens that used technology early and often began to show signs of lack of empathy for others; this is due to people not being able to see the effects their words have on another person because the conversation is taking place over a screen. Despite being associated with many negative aspects, technology has also been used to connect humans together to form long relationships and might in fact be the future for our society. Along with the negative articles a few positive ones have been published regarding dating sites and praising them for being an easier and more direct way to meet someone.

An article called "The Role of Communication Technology in Adolescent Relationships and Identity Development" discusses how a group of scientist conducted a study of how technological communication affected teenagers and young adults. The studies that were conducted focused on teenage groups that had relationships with their peers. The study evaluated how often each individual texted and went on social media. In terms of a relationship stand point the couples communicated every day and seemed fine, however scientist noticed negative symptoms for each individual during the studies. For example couples that spent of their time communicating using technology such as texting or social media messaging had developed forms of anxiety and peer aggression. This is a direct link to symptoms that can develop from the constant use of technology on teens, thus showing that it is healthier for humans to have face to face contact. The study further showed that couples that had more direct contact with each other were more satisfied and in a more relaxed and stress free relationship. The article thus proves that couples who used texting and other types communicative technologies had more internal problems, identity distress, and mistrust among partners. Couples that had more face to face contact were in a healthier relationship. This is due to the fact that humans are naturally social creatures and thrive of personal connection with one another. If this connection is done using a screen as the middle man it becomes less personal and there is less investment into a relationship if most of the talking is done through a monitor. 

This was not the only article to feature technology as negative among couples. The article "Understanding the Role of Technology in Adolescent Dating and Dating Violence" by Patricia Carreno, did a similar social experiment relating to teenagers dating and their usage of communicative technologies. However this article dug in deeper and explored more of cyber bullying through dating. The article sheds light on how students can terrorize each other on the internet and social media sites. Couples, who were fighting, would post negative comments about their partner or post pictures of them making fun, usually with friends liking these comments and photos and adding in. This shows how too much exposure to technology and social media sites can affect the development of a teen's brain. The fact that teens would post harsh comments about each other on the Internet shows that because humans are interacting more with computers or phones, the trait empathy starts to disappear. The article further discussed how because of cell phones and social media, students were more likely to dissolve a relationship over the phone or media. Thus showing that because people have the ability to communicate using technology and texting we are less confrontational. The simple act of calling someone over the phone can be to nerve racking. This leads to people again having less empathy toward others. The article also focused on the theme of distrust among couples. Couples would use social media sites as a way of spying on their partner as well as isolating their partners from others. This further shows how social media sites promote jealousy among couples. The main reason for jealousy in the relationship was because of things like posting pictures without them in it or other members of the opposite sex. This affected each gender in generally the same tone. Both boys and girls reacted in a negative way and used social media similarly. Thus showing that it doesn't matter if your a boy or girl, too much usage of technology is bad.

Not all forms of technology are discovered to be bad for relationships. An article called "The Impact of Communication Technologies on Life and Relationship Satisfaction" written by Goodman-Deane, examined how technology affects a couples overall satisfaction. The study was done in the form of a survey. The survey questioned couples on what they used most to communicate wether it was texting, face timing, calling, or social media sites. It was discovered that couples that used cell phones to call one another and things such as FaceTime or Skype, were overall more satisfied then couples who communicated primarily through texting and direct messaging. Thus couples that spend more time actually talking and were audibly social with each other reported more happiness then those that preferred texting as a way of communication. This again applies to the scientific theory that since humans are naturally social creatures we respond better to audible communication, then inaudible. Texting contains no emotion and it can sometimes be hard to understand a person's tone behind a text message unless he/she includes lots of punctuation, which the average person doesn't normally include. Things such as face-timing and talking over a phone still contain emotion and are more personal because couples can physically hear each other. A text message doesn't have those same qualities and should be used as a temporary form of communication not as a permanent one.  

Despite many scientific articles emerging that show technology use as a negative impact on teenagers and couples, there are actually some articles that support technology and believe that it is the future of the human race. The article "Love in the Age of Like" by Aziz Ansari discusses the online dating industry and how millions of Americans have found love and have had successful marriages. The comedian Ansari, describe it to being similar as his father's arranged marriage. "The first girl, he said, was 'a little too tall,' and the second girl was "a little too short.' Then he met my mom. He quickly deduced that she was the appropriate height (finally!), and they talked for about 30 minutes. They decided it would work. A week later, they were married."( Ansari, Love in the Age of Like). Ansari describes online dating apps to be similar to how his father made his choice for his wife. He picked over several options, different personalities and appearances until he found the right one. Many individuals believe this to be the way of the future with millions of people currently using these dating sites. The main problem with dating sites was whether people could find their actual soulmate or just meet someone for the simple purpose of a rendezvous. The article also showed that some people loved dating sites as they felt that they could easily connect with someone who matched their exact interests, while others thought that it became too much work with an overwhelming amount of options. A girl interviewed named Pyria, deleted several of her online accounts because she would rather find her soulmate through her social friend groups, claiming that she would have to pick between so many guys online. The article proves that for some people online dating is revolutionary and connects people together, but for others the "old fashioned" way of just meeting someone through friends or just by chance is what they preferred.

Technology has definitely connected the human race in more ways than one. Whether it's keeping us up to date on current world events or to remind you that it's your friend's birthday. Social media has been crucial and vital to keeping millions of people busy. The issue of whether or not technology is good for relationships and for developing young adults is still up to debate. With many believing that it's a serious issue and have facts supporting that using things such as texting will affect our social behaviors with others and make use less genuine. The other side views technology as an important tool that humans should be exposed to as it helps us learn faster and connects us to people, potentially our lost soulmate. The facts are true on both sides of the debate; the conclusion that can be drawn is that we need to learn as a society to moderate

 Our use of technology because if it overwhelms our lives too much we will lose an important social layer that makes us human. 

