Originally published in Her Campus American’s print magazine Collegiette, Issue 007
There may still be traditionalists who hold out for meeting their partner by chance, but society has normalized the use of technology in dating.
The pandemic limited social interaction, making it more difficult for people to find a possible partner. Tinder reported that 2020 was their busiest year to date, and Hinge tripled their revenue in the past two years according to Statista. This goes to show that people depend on technology more than ever in order to find their perfect match.
The Economic Times notes that the pandemic made in-person dating “a distant reality.” As the pandemic is not disappearing, neither are dating apps. Because of how new dating apps are, society lacks socially acceptable behaviors creating inconsistencies amongst these apps. This can lead to confusion and discomfort between users who have different understandings of norms while using them.
With the increased use of dating apps, it is important to recognize that these apps create a unique platform for users to be dishonest. This leads to users having negative experiences.
On dating apps, women have experienced everything from security concerns to meetups gone wrong. According to Kaspersky, “55% [of users] have experienced some form of [a] threat or problem while dating online” and “57% of online daters lie to each other, faking a range of attributes.”
Women on Tinder have vastly different experiences than men and, because of this, they feel the need to follow strict safety guidelines in terms of online dating.
According to research done by Kaspersky, a company dedicated to online safety, “as many as 32% of Internet users are dating online.” As a result, many women are changing their settings and identifying best practices to better protect their safety.
A 19-year-old female student at American University who uses Tinder said that she “sets the age limits to the lowest it can be.” On Tinder, this is 18 to 22 years old. This seems to be a common theme as another female student at American University, this one being 18-years-old, utilizes “age settings to avoid older people who may want to take advantage.”.
In addition to age settings, users such as this 19-year-old female, find it important to limit the information on their pages to details that can already be found on social media.
Those who use dating apps can also change the gender of the people they are matching with. Another 18-year-old female Tinder user explained how she has made her account to only match with women. This is because she believes that women tend to be more honest than men, with men often lying for their own benefit.
Transparency on dating apps is important for many reasons, the biggest being safety. With no real way to guarantee safety, meeting people from dating apps in real life can easily become a nerve-wracking experience.
Dating apps can have their flaws, so it is important for women to take necessary steps to stay safe while also getting the best out of their experiences. Utilizing specific settings and having solid boundaries are a few ways that women can protect themselves while dating online.