Half of Americans Meet Through Dating Apps
Users Growing Rapidly,
But "No Scientific Evidence" They Help Find Matches
Lawsuits Filed Over Highly Addictive Features
As the use of dating applications (apps) increases worldwide, doubts are being raised about their effectiveness in helping users find compatible partners. Academics find it difficult to determine whether couples who meet online maintain longer or happier relationships compared to those who meet in person, and there is no scientific evidence that dating apps help people find their soulmates.
The British daily newspaper The Guardian recently reported in an article titled "Do dating apps help find soulmates?" that experts who have analyzed the industry over a long period say, "Scientifically, no one knows" whether dating apps are helpful.
The dating app industry has rapidly grown over the past 30 years since the launch of Match.com in 1995, coinciding with the advent of the computer era, becoming a part of social phenomena. Michael Rosenfeld, a professor at Stanford University who has studied and analyzed dating app trends in the U.S., evaluated that online dating methods are steadily replacing traditional ways of finding partners through friends or workplaces.
According to a survey conducted by Forbes in August last year, 45% of 5,000 Americans who actively sought dating partners in the past five years said they used dating apps to find partners. About 3 out of 10 American adults have used dating apps or sites. In Europe, approximately 80 million people use dating apps. In South Korea, the combined number of installs for the three major dating apps (Tinder, Wippie, Glam) exceeded one million as of August last year.
Although people worldwide actively use dating apps to meet partners, experts say it is difficult to determine whether they are actually finding perfectly compatible matches. Elizabeth Bruch, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan who has researched dating apps for the past decade, pointed out that "there is no scientific evidence" that dating apps help find soulmates. While noting that dating app companies do not disclose related information, she analyzed, "No one really knows what makes a good relationship, the chemistry that creates a good relationship, or the long-term interactions that sustain it."
In fact, a study released in the U.S. last January found that people who met their spouses online reported slightly lower satisfaction and somewhat less stability in their marriages compared to those who met offline. However, this was attributed not to problems with online dating itself but to difficulties arising from maintaining relationships when couples live far apart geographically after meeting through dating apps.
Dating app companies focus on collecting various user information under the premise of helping users find suitable partners. According to The Washington Post (WP), they gather sensitive data including users' education, wealth, income, political orientation, union membership, and sexual preferences.
However, despite the vast amount of information, finding a suitable partner is not easy. One woman interviewed by Professor Bruch reportedly sifted through more than 40,000 profiles on dating apps but failed to find a suitable match. She explained, "If it takes 3 minutes to view one profile, that means she spent 2,000 hours, or 12 weeks, just looking for a partner."
Recently, dating apps have been criticized for using addictive features to attract users. The process of finding a date is often gamified with rewards, which increases addiction. In February, six dating app users in California filed a class-action lawsuit against companies like Tinder and Hinge. They criticized these companies for using dopamine-stimulating features that keep users hooked, turning them into "gamblers desperately seeking psychological rewards."
Lee McKinnon, a lecturer at the London College of Communication, said, "People feel deeply betrayed when they realize these services operate for the companies' profits. But in reality, we have become the profit of digital companies." He pointed out, "We have become products themselves, and our personal lives, love, and even the most intimate government matters have been commodified and turned into products."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
