Do you check dating apps like Tinder and Bumble very often after an intense session of swiping left & right just to realize that no one has swiped you back yet? If that is the situation, do you feel sad, lonely, and unworthy? Well, you’re not alone.
A recent paper published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships states that people tend to feel more lonely after repeatedly checking dating apps. The study was conducted on 269 undergraduate students from Ohio State University. All these students used at least one dating app and they were questioned about their mental health conditions.
“The increased sense of control that applications provide may especially lead to a greater preference for connecting through these channels and ultimately lead to compulsive use.”, reads the paper.
Some people missed out on classes, pending deadlines, and even skipped work for spending more time in the dating platform. This is a clear indication of how much modern apps have influenced the lives of people. In fact, a recent study indicates that spending more time on social media can cause severe mental health issues like depression.
The study also states that people who are compulsive in dating apps are just confident in these apps. The confidence factor drops rapidly if they get matched and go for a date in real life which essentially means that not getting matched with anyone hurts people more than not being able to go out on a date.
People can’t be blamed at all as most of the current dating apps are designed in the pick-or-kick strategy which has given people more control in choosing a partner right in their fingertips. You might just never realize how bad you make the person at the other end feel when you swipe a person left.
“I do think apps overall will have a hard time getting away from the swipe interface, as that seems to be a large part of the appeal, but taking that away and encouraging deeper looks into individual profiles seems like one good way to make them a little less addictive.”, said Kathryn D. Coduto, one of the authors of the paper.
She also emphasized on being aware of the time you spend on dating apps and to keep expectations realistic as all the dating apps are designed in such a way to trap you in and make you spend money for better results.
So, have you ever felt lonely after using dating apps? Tell us in the comments.
