Roughly seven-in-ten online daters think people lying to appear more desirable is a very common occurrence on online dating platforms (First Infographic)
Nowadays dating apps have become more and more common to use to get into a relationship and to meet new people. But these apps can be very misleading at times because you never know if the person you think you are talking to behind the screen is really them or not. I personally think if I were to ever use one of these that would be a very big concern of mine wondering whether or not the person is real or not. The numbers and percentages I read on for this amazed me that about 50% of people set up a spam account to scam people into believing that they actually exist. And about 48% of people receive sexual pictures that they did not ask for while being on these apps.
Before reading this I already had my suspicions about dating apps because nowadays you really never know what you could be getting yourself into meeting a random person online. Growing up my mom always told me to be cautious while on the internet and especially when I started to use social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. I always worry about fake accounts and people trying to portray to be someone that they are not and this whole story about online dating pretty much summed up why I don’t use these types of dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, etc.
Younger adults – as well as those who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual – are especially likely to use online dating sites or apps (Second Infographic)
About 30% of Americans say they have used either an online dating website or used a dating app. About 48% of 18-29-year-olds use these apps and 38% of 30-49-year-olds use them and ages 50 and above the percentage decreased drastically. These numbers don’t completely shock me I would have said that the percentage of younger people use them more frequently because we grew up around the technology and it’s becoming more and more normal to use apps for dating and meeting people. I was thrown off by the ages 30 to 49 and that 38% of them use the dating apps because I know those ages when they were young it was so common to be in long term relationships and meet someone in either high school or college and stay together with them.
It is very common for younger adults who are either lesbian, gay, or bisexual to use dating apps or online sites. To me, this was stunning me but then again a lot of the LGB community probably feels judged or scared to open up to try and meet people to date and get to know because of the world we live in. They probably feel a lot more comfortable getting to know someone on an LBG site to not worry about judgment or anything. I know Grinder and Hinge are special dates sites just for them but there is always that other possibility of having someone try and be someone that they aren’t.
A lot of online daters feel like it’s easier to talk to people online because a lot of the time on those apps is categorial. This helps with people being able to find someone that has the same interests and is similar to you so you don’t talk to someone who has none of the same things in common. People who are very shy and scared to talk to people out in public online dating it for them because this helps break that awkwardness when beginning to talk to someone through a phone or laptop first. Then if you feel like you want to meet up with them you can begin to facetime or phone calls to see how they are then deciding whether or not to keep it going or not instead of investing all of your time into the person going to meet up with them.
Third Infographic
Three in 10 U.S. adults say they have used a dating app or website in the past. About 23% of them say they have never been/gone on a date with someone they met from a dating app but about 12% say they have been in a committed relationship or married someone they met through a dating app. Before reading all of this I was shocked to see how common is it to potentially end up with someone long-term that you meet through a dating app. I never knew that it could work out with someone you met through an online dating site. Throughout the year’s people who find and end up with their spouses through dating websites or apps has risen 11% throughout the years.
I decided to interview my mom Kim Balatgek to get her input and views on online dating sites and apps. Kim had pretty much the exact same opinion as me. She said that dating apps scare her because you never know who is actually behind the screen cause they could very well try and be someone that they aren’t. Kim stated to me as well that she thinks online dating to meet people is going to become more and more common throughout the next 5 to 10 years because technology is expanding so much. It made her sad because when my parents were growing up you met everyone out and about the ‘old school way’ she called it and now everyone is transitioning to online dating. Kim also stated; although a lot of my friends who recently got out of marriage has tried online dating and had nothing but good things to say about it, I feel like I am just very uneasy because the internet is scary with scary people who try and be someone they aren’t to harm someone.
Sources:
Kim Balatgek (Interviewer)
Bloomsburg Infographics 