Dating apps have been around for over a decade now, and they’re still as popular as ever. Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble reign supreme as the top dating apps, and since 2019, three in ten U.S. adults have reported using them. That number jumps to almost six in ten for unmarried adults under 50.
But just because people are using them doesn’t mean they actually like them.
As spring began to blossom at USC, students chimed in on how they feel about swiping for love versus meeting people the old-fashioned way, face to face.
Anika Park, a sophomore art major, said dating apps have not been the best way for her to make meaningful connections.
“When I did...have dating apps, like it felt like a game to me, like it didn’t feel real, in a sense, because, you know, you’re just like, swiping on these, like profiles,” Park said. “It almost felt like a game to me... Then we match. And like... this is real, you know?”
Park said she has also noticed a pattern among users that makes dating feel like a cycle—one where people keep swiping because they believe there’s always a better option out there.
“Serial daters is a good way to put it...even if they do date, I feel like they don’t really last long and they like immediately go to the dating apps again and try to find someone else, which is like, fine. I’m not judging anyone who does it,” she said, “but I feel like dating apps has like, enabled people to do it a lot more often.”
Senior business major Elizabeth Phillips shared a similar sentiment, saying the endless cycle of swiping and short-lived connections eventually led her to delete dating apps altogether.
“I deleted them because I kind of got tired of having the same introduction conversation with people and the same get-to-know-you kind of phase of the conversation, and I found that boring, or I found people to just say one-line responses to things,” Phillips said.
She said talking to people on dating apps didn’t feet that genuine, and frankly a bit boring.
“It was just the same, ‘Hi. How are you? What did you do today?’ Every single day?,” Phillips said. “And it kind of got repetitive, and didn’t feel like a good use of my time.”
Asked whether they’d rather meet someone online or in person, those interviewed said they’d prefer in person. But when it came to whether online dating has changed how our generation approaches relationships, opinions were a little more divided.
Park described how online dating has contributed to a non-serious hookup dating culture.
“I have friends who are still dating people who... they have met from online,” she said. “But also, you know, I feel like there is this notion of...kind of like speed dating, in a sense, when you meet people online, where it’s like, it’s not committed,” she said. “I feel like most people just get to the talking stage rather than really dating. Or people use it for hookups a lot of times too.”
Phillips believes dating apps have made people more hesitant to engage in real-life interactions, creating a reliance on virtual connections.
“People are more reliant on them,” she said. “They don’t think that they need to like interact in real life, like I think if we didn’t have dating apps, people would go up to strangers more often than having dating apps. So I think it has changed it for worse.”
Not everyone sees online dating as a negative, though. Thomas Plotts, a junior, pointed out that dating apps can be beneficial, especially for those with demanding schedules or for people who find approaching strangers intimidating.
“If you’re working...and you’re not, like, going out to a bar or something, it’s difficult to meet someone, and so, you know, it that kind of,...makes it easier, maybe,” Plotts said. “If someone has trouble... going up to someone on a bar, (this) makes it easier for them. And so I think just ease of access.”
At the same time, he added, “because...a lot more people are using dating apps, maybe people aren’t as good at, you know, meeting people at bars,” he said.
So the question remains: are dating apps are a necessary tool in the modern dating world, or are they making it harder for people to connect in real life? Whether you’re a hopeless romantic or a serial swiper, one thing is clear: love isn’t getting any less complicated.