AI Is Changing Young People's Relationships and Dating, Too

[Financial News]  

AI is increasingly involved in young people's dating lives and interpersonal relationships.
More young people are using AI to soften angry emotions before sending emails, or to turn their dating experiences into data in order to find the best partner.
A growing number of people are applying spreadsheet-style analysis to dating and using AI when sending emails to lovers or acquaintances in an effort to avoid relationship breakdowns.

According to WSJ on the 27th local time, young people who have grown tired of endless matching on dating apps have begun quantifying their dating experiences.
They are systematizing romance much like corporate project management or data analysis.
The first step in datafying dating is to record dating experiences as scores in a spreadsheet.
Instead of emotional factors such as appearance or first impressions, they assign scores to the values they care about most, including political views, religion, attitudes toward money, lifestyle, and future plans.
They also log unpleasant moments, mismatched words and actions, and intuitive feelings of discomfort in a database.
Those scores help determine whether to continue seeing someone. To guard against their own lack of objectivity, they also include friends' evaluations and opinions of the other person. It is a kind of "friend review" system.
Skyler Wang, an assistant professor of sociology at McGill University in Canada, said, "Data helps people find order and structure in an extremely chaotic process."
The next step is to identify one's own dating patterns through data. People can use data to see which professions they have been most satisfied dating, or after how many dates their feelings tend to deepen.
They can also assess cost-effectiveness, or return on investment (ROI), by comparing the time, money, and energy spent on dating with the emotional satisfaction it brings, and cut off relationships that are inefficient.

Young people are also using AI in their relationships with others.
They ask AI to draft or rehearse opening lines on dating apps, party conversation topics, text exchanges with a partner, and the tone of emails in conflict situations.
It is not much different from asking a friend who writes well to draft a love letter. In a sense, AI has become a modern-day Cyrano.
AI is especially helpful for today's young generation, many of whom grew up as only children rather than in large extended families. For those who struggle to start conversations or feel intense anxiety when meeting people, talking with AI can build confidence and reduce unease. AI serves as an excellent tool for conversation practice.
It is also useful in conflict situations.
When AI helps with arguments between lovers or conversations about sensitive topics, it can prevent people from blurting out harsh words in anger and making the situation irreparable. It makes constructive dialogue possible.

Experts, however, advise against becoming overly dependent on AI.
That is because people may fall into self-doubt, believing that their own judgment and raw emotions cannot be trusted.
Ashley Golden, an assistant professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, warned, "If you keep sending your own writing to AI to check whether it is okay, you end up training yourself not to trust your own interpretation and intuition."
Feeling awkward around strangers, dealing with conflict, and fearing rejection are essential parts of emotional growth. Experts warn that if people avoid these experiences by hiding behind the cushion of technology, their ability to endure unexpected situations and uncertainty in real life will also weaken.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter