It’s a match. The days of courting are long over as the swiping phenomenon of dating apps has overrun squirming singles' hopes for love. Mr. Darcy would be shocked to hear students' opinions on the impact these DMs of love have had on the dating market.
With endless opportunities to make connections online, the mainstream dating apps are Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Match, and Grinder, according to a study done by the Pew Research Center.
Emma George, a sophomore political science major, said she has battled the cycle of “download and delete” in her experience using Tinder and Hinge. She said the pattern develops out of boredom.
“If I was to rate it on a scale of zero out of 10, I’m gonna say we’re gonna go into the negatives,” George said.
George added she has yet to find love in an online connection, but she has found humor.
“I think they are a joke,” George said. “It’s like shits and giggles.”
Ten years ago, George’s mom found her own boyfriend on a dating app. She said part of the change in the dating scene is that Generation Z is chronically online.
“I think 10 years ago because they were just getting started, people had taken it more seriously,” George said. “[Now,] it’s a comedy show like nothing about it is serious anymore.”
Even though Patrick McEvoy, a sophomore mathematical finance major, said he has never used a dating app, he thinks it’s “pretty tough” as he knows a lot of friends that use the apps.
“I think that it’s not how you met a person that’s important,” McEvoy said. “I guess dating apps give you a wider variety of people you meet which is cool, but I don’t think it affects the relationship.”
McEvoy said older generations had it easier in dating as they didn’t know what they were missing out on.
“I think people are much more selective now, and I think that makes relationships harder,” McEvoy said. “People have higher almost unrealistic standards sometimes because there are always more options.”
Richie Riotto, a sophomore criminal justice major, said he thinks it is better to meet people naturally through friends and family members than through dating apps.
“From my experience personally, it just doesn’t work because it just feels like a forced thing,” Riotto said. “If you are going to spend time with someone, it has got to be natural, you know.”
Like McEvoy, Riotto is not on any dating apps. He said he agrees with the idea that social media “killed” the old way of meeting people and building romantic relationships.
“With Snapchat, people are looking to see if they got a response in this amount of time,” Riotto said. “If you don’t get a response, it is bad. It overcomplicates everything because one response from someone back in the day was about quality. Now, if someone doesn’t respond in 30 minutes, it’s a problem.”
Riotto, McEvoy, and George have all known someone who has found their one through the apps. One in 10 adults have met their significant other through dating apps, according to a 2022 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.
For McEvoy, he said his best friend finding a girlfriend from Tinder improved his outlook on the success of dating apps.
“I guess I didn’t believe in it as much as I do now,” McEvoy said. “I thought it was a bit less serious. Now, I see there definitely are values to it that kind of [go] into how you approach dating apps mentally.”
On the other hand, sophomore Jenna Dancsecs retired from the apps after she met her current boyfriend on Tinder. She said they announced their one-year anniversary on Instagram on Jan. 12.
“If I am being honest, I was not going on there [intending to] find the one,” Dancsecs said. “It was more recreational; a lot of guys would reach out to me, but he was the only one that I met up with from Tinder. Then it happened to be [the] right person, right time.”
Dancesecs said dating apps are a great idea, but some people take advantage of them, especially in Gen Z.
“I feel like a lot of relationships nowadays are more likely to fail because of the way that people meet,” Dancesecs said. “People talk online with each other for a few months, finally meet up in person, and there’s no connection. I feel like you can’t really tell until you are in front of the person and having an actual conversation.”
Calla Patino is the copy editor for The Setonian’s Campus Life section. She can be reached at calla.patino@student.shu.edu
