My wider context (300 words)

Growing up watching Disney movies, my expectation of a “Happily Ever After” are always link to finding love or being in a relationship. However, as I grow up, I slowly realised that is not true because “Happiness comes from within.” (Manfredi, n.d.) This make me question myself why happiness is always related to relationship. According to DePaulo (2019), one of the things that bring single people joy is actually the ability to defy the stereotype of having to be coupled. Therefore, I wanted to explore the topic of “Individualism” since being single is always view negatively (DePaulo, 2010), while being in a relationship is encourage by the society.

Researching further on the topic, it seems that the reasons for wanting to be in a relationship is due to loneliness, attraction to the person and also affection. (Paul, 2012) However according to Varon (2014), being in a relationship does not offer those feelings if you don’t learn to love yourself first. Besides, another reason relationship is encouraged is due to the culture of having to be coupled that had been pass down from generations to generations. (Joyce, 2012) Thus, it might seem odd to not follow the culture that was set by our older generations.

Therefore, I would be looking into the aspect of how people feel about being single in the 21st century. This is because in comparison to the past it is more common nowadays to be single. (DePaulo, 2019) Looking at the statistic an average of four out of ten millennials are still single. (Ypulse, 2019) Moreover, I would like to dig a little deeper on the different perspective of people on being single. Learn about what exactly influence their expectation, feelings and many more on being single or in a relationship. Thus, my specific context is on how media play its role in shaping our expectation on single or relationship in the 21st century.

citations

DePaulo, B. (2010, September 20). Singlism: What it is and is not, and why it should be in the dictionary. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201009/singlism-what-it-is-and-is-not-and-why-it-should-be-in-the-dictionary

DePaulo, B. (2019, April 1). What makes single people happy? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201904/what-makes-single-people-happy

DePaulo, B. (2019, June 22). Single life in the 21st century: A guide to owning it. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201906/single-life-in-the-21st-century-guide-owning-it

Joyce, R. (2012, February 4). Coupling and culture. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-makes-us-human/201202/coupling-and-culture

Manfredi, D. (n.d.). True happiness comes from within, but why? How To Be Happy and How to Improve Our Level of Happiness. https://howtobehappy.guru/true-happiness-comes-from-within-but-wh

Paul, M. (2012, December 9). Are you in a relationship for the right reasons? HuffPost. https://bit.ly/368MFND

Varon, J. (2014, April 17). A relationship will not make you happy (So stop looking for happiness there). Thought Catalog. https://thoughtcatalog.com/jamie-varon/2014/04/a-relationship-will-not-make-you-happy-so-stop-looking-for-happiness-there/

Ypulse. (2019, October 10). Four in ten millennials are still single & creating a new solo living industry. YPulse – Everything you need to know about Gen Z and Millennial research and marketing, at your fingertips. https://www.ypulse.com/article/2019/10/10/four-in-ten-millennials-are-still-single-creating-a-new-solo-living-industry/