You’ve probably experienced dating app fatigue and had many moments where you wish you could just give up on the whole thing and hide in a cave somewhere and spare yourself the exhausting agony – or is that just us?
In any case, there’s good news! Or at least interesting news! A new study carried out by Stanford this week revealed that 70% of people meet their significant others via dating apps. In the early 200s only 20% of people.
A lot has been said about the harmful impact of dating apps on people’s sense of selves or ability to connect. The sense of infinite options making us pass on an excellent match because we believe there’s something better just round the corner. Or the fact that having multiple options has been shown to actually have the effect of making us less involved and interested in the whole process!
But there is evidently a real dilemma for those who’ve become skeptical about dating apps – if 70% of people are meeting through these apps it simply means that if you’re hoping to meet someone your chances are severely decreased if you don’t ‘join in’ so to speak.
Another interesting factor that the Stanford research revealed was the role played by friends and family in ‘mediating’ these relationships and encounters. Friends and family’s roles have severely decreased when it comes to them being the catalyst or funnels through which partners are either found or even approved of! In fact an interesting side effect of online dating has been the fact that people date people less similar to themselves! Interracial couples have incresed since online dating has been popularised. Essentially it suggests that families and friends don’t act as inhibitors or prevent people from feeling freer about who they choose to date!
So in answer to the question, should you stick with online dating if you’re looking to meet someone or should you just go back to old school tactics and get your friends to play matchmakers? And are relationships that start online less likely to succeed?
The fact of the matter is that evidence shows (surprisingly) that meeting online can lead you to stronger longer lasting relationship, but as the researchers suggest, this might have more to do with the fact that people on some dating websites are more likely to be actively seeking out a relationship.
However, if you’re really struggling and not finding the meat-market conducive to happiness (lol) know that you’re not alone. A BBC survey last year showed that dating apps were the “least preferred way” to meet someone.
So it’s a real Catch 22 – you’re more likely to meet your next partner by being on an app but you’re also highly likely to hate the process. What a time to be alive!
