Relationships Talk

Dating can be hard, and finding someone to date can be even harder, especially in a big college like the University of Georgia. Dating apps have become an option for people to meet more people in a less conventional way, and the negative stigma behind these apps are changing.

Perhaps the views behind dating apps are changing because people have become more exposed to the idea of it. According to the Pew Research Center in 2005, a lot of people did not know much about online dating, and those who did thought online dating was not a great way to date.

However, by 2015, the PRC found the attitudes towards online dating blossomed to be more positive. The researchers attributed the change to be because more people now know more people using dating apps, and so people are more accustomed to the idea.

Whether people admit it or not, 60 percent of people in the United States between the ages of 18 to 29 have used a dating app at some point in the lives, and that percentage is just getting larger. By 2020, the online dating market is predicted to grow up to $12 billion.

Before, a dating app like Tinder might be referred to by college students as a hookup only app. As more people started serious relationships with someone they found on these apps, the stigma behind these so-called “hookup apps” is slowly dissolving.

Tinder tweeted on August 2015, “Tinder users are on Tinder to meet people for all kinds of reasons. Sure, some of them — men and women — want to hook up.”

Many people disagreed with this statement, saying that most people, not just some, were looking for something less serious.

Tinder and other dating apps have of course been noted as a platform for non-dating relationships. However, sometimes college students are not looking for anything serious, but that isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, a study of 200 college students found that 53 percent of Tinder and other dating app users are using the apps to find friends.

The survey found the majority of the users have never gone on a date with anyone on the app and just wanted to find friends through the apps. Surveys like this one show that the ways college students are using online dating apps are also changing.

Dating apps are not always a good thing, however. It can be frustrating to match with a person, get along with them and then find out they something different from the relationships. Also, apps like Tinder and Bumble can be seen as shallow because people either swipe right or left on a person’s profile based off of their pictures without ever bothering to get to know them as a person.

Online dating has its pros and cons, but it is definitely what one makes of it. In a Brit + Co article titled, “Pro Matchmakers Share Their Best Advice for Dating App Rookies,” the author gives dating app advice, such as not taking anything too seriously and not limiting yourself.

While online dating can be a good tool to meet a significant other or even a friend, it is not the only way to do that, so people should not limit themselves to just dating apps. Perhaps, the key is to giving the dating app a shot and figuring out for oneself whether or not it is the best thing for them.