A closer look at online dating’s real-world consequences
Key points
- Online dating is the number-one way for couples to meet in the U.S.
- Relationships form differently online than through conventional face-to-face dating.
- These changes to the ways couples meet may have large-scale implications.
Online dating is more than just a passing trend. In the U.S., most couples today meet online. Online dating has also become particularly popular among Millennials and Gen Zers, thanks in no small part to apps like Tinder and Bumble. As the first generations of adults to grow up with the internet, their willingness to embrace online dating is telling. In my own research, I’ve spoken with college-aged adults who have never had the experience of approaching someone for a date outside of an app-a sign of just how different dating is now compared to previous generations.
With all the changes brought about by online dating, research is beginning to explore its long-term implications. Here are five ways that online dating is making an impact, and reasons we should all be paying attention.
1. Greater Diversity, but Also Inequality
Online dating is designed to increase access to potential partners by connecting people with complete strangers. One benefit of encouraging people to branch out beyond their existing networks is diversity and the possibility for more interracial relationships. However, there are also concerns that the matching and sorting that happens in online dating could lead to even greater social stratification. For example, Bloomberg reported on how elite dating apps like The League could be worsening economic inequality by providing people with an effective means of “filtering out” potential partners from lower socio-economic standings. Either way, one thing that is clear is that online dating platforms have a tremendous amount of influence over what relationships will look like now and into the future. (more…)