According to experts the romantic online dating plays an
important role in the grieving process. A new chronicle how widowed online
daters use their profiles as a place to make sense of the past while
articulating a vision of a future life. The University Of Delaware
communication professors Dannagal Young and Scott Caplan has collected more
than 500 online dating profiles from divorced and widowed individuals of both
the sexes between the ages of 18 and 40 years old.
Examination of the profiles for evidence of healthy
approaches to loss and describing the back story behind the divorce or death of
the spouse, the attempt to make sense of the past experience is an act called
"cognitive reappraisal." They had then found that widowed daters are
more likely to mention their back stories online as compared to divorcees to
try making sense of finding meaning in it and articulating a vision of their
future partnership.
It is said that those of them who mentioned their back story
are more significantly likely to describe how the experience changed them for
the better.
Caplan said ," Many surviving spouses point to a shift
in priorities and a new appreciation for the fragility of life after their
spouse dies." She thus said that one should think of it as a post-loss
enlightenment.
Young however stated that," Online dating seems like a
way to bring these healthy behaviors together."
