The Indulgence of Dating Apps Amid Boredom
“Dating apps are (no surprise here) increasingly becoming a part of the norm” — Sammy Nickalls
Throughout the 1980s, algorithmic compatibility and device software suitable for online dating has been developing and advancing heavily, coupled with the internet’s advent in 1991. The online dating system begins to change the dynamics of communication in society. From the way people meet and get acquainted with forming a relationship or social relations. Based on Online Dating Magazine, there are more than 8000 online dating sites in the whole world. Online dating sites are established for the public, targeting users who have a more narrow demographic; ethnicity, preference, sex, city, religion, Etc. (Lee, 2017).
With the usage and adoption of the internet today, online dating is outstanding in the form of a site and applications perched on the smartphone. In an era centered on technology, online dating is already becoming part of society’s complexity. Online dating has fundamentally changed the process of finding romance (James, 2015). Mostly, dating apps are accessed by simply clicking a button, making it easy to be explored distantly and challenging to avoid, giving significant implications in corpulent people’s dating lives.
Dating applications unprovide contrast restrictions for whomever that can access the applications. Generally allowing ages 18 and over, it is often used by those ranging from 25 to 34 (Ayers, 2014; Smith and Duggan, 2013). However, the possibility that most users were aged 18–24 exist, according to Esquire’s Big Sex Study, in which 75 percent of users in dating applications aged 18–24 years. Another research from Eastern Washington University (n = 190) also showed 6.3 percent (164) were users aged 18–25 years, 10.5 percent (20) were users aged 26–31 years, and 3.2 percent (6) were above 31 years.
Along with the change of interest within the community, many preferences and alternatives are more elusive. The combination of complexity in society and high expectations to find a ‘partner’ forces the creator to pursue users’ selection. There have been many dating applications based solely on religion, occupation, and certain groups of people. It is making users be more specific about the desire and lead to the satisfaction of them.
In today’s complicated and tense situation, an awkward atmosphere is created, between humans, due to their difficulty in yielding to their natural social desire and instinct; Socializing. Due to the failure to fulfill previous desires, a domino effect rises within the social dynamic, triggered by boredom. Boredom leads to inventiveness, discovery or creation of fresh things, and ends in implementation. As dating apps shifted in its overall objective, from seeking a partner to the pursuit of essential human interaction, users are forced to take the technology’s best advantage. Creating a feast for disregarded desires. Simply put, dating apps are the new ‘primadonna’ of building new connections, minus the variable of lust.
According to various previous studies, four motivational factors that trail the use of dating apps are entertainment, social interaction, identity exploration, and information. Entertainment is related to having fun and getting rid of boredom ( Ligtenberg, 2015). Users always fight for their own interest, despite the initial purposes and incentives. The thrill of entertainment alone may be related to the possibilities associated with increasing the user’s welfare (Bartsch, 2012; Bartsch & Oliver, 2016). Reaching the hypothesis that users of online dating applications for entertainment; entertain themselves when bored, and users’ well-being tends to increase rather than decrease or remain not changed.
The users of dating apps have different intentions and motives within one another. One of the motives is boredom or merely killing time. To research from Eastern Washington University (n = 190), 54 percent (102) of the users in interviews swirled in dating apps to neutralize the sense of boredom. 86 percent (164) users use the dating apps to directly entertain themselves, not to look for a ‘partner.’ The swiping feature makes users return to the app, even when they are not in hunting ‘partner’ mode. Instead of looking for a partner, they swipe the profile for entertainment that sprouts when they try to spend a few minutes in between activities (Davis, 2018).
Other evidence from the research carried out by Esquire.com (n = 1000), 63 percent of users utilize dating apps because of boredom. The women’s awareness supports that many men who fill the cavity of dating apps are not mortal to look for the pair but kill the boredom that sprouts due to the lack of entertainment. Construct some boost to the women to form an attitude and intention equal to their opponent.
Overview of the study done by Abodo (n = 3500), the users are not utilizing the dating apps to look for a couple or anything else other than their own entertainment. 91 percent of users who declare ‘manipulate’ the dating apps as the rescue to the current condition as in boredom, 34.1 percent from 91 percent are women. They assert more patents if boredom is the primary motivator for turning in online dating apps. The same applies to 29.7 percent of male users and 33.3 percent of users who do not identify themselves as male or female. Furthermore, 71 percent of the women admit if they are more comfortable with the ‘old school’ way or mutual friend for searching for a partner. By mapping, the more detail clustered 40.3 percent users more impartially to meet straight forward with the potential partner. 38.9 percent chose mutual friends. 16.6 percent more likely if met by coincidence; stranger to stranger. Moreover, 4 percent remainder is choosing to look for in the dating apps.
As root fibers, the research other than the Journal of Behavioral Addictions said that if users are tired of it is the individual who extraverted. Users with high levels of extraversion use dating apps more extra than others to kill boredom. Dating apps provide stimulation of feelings for extraverted individuals in monotonous situations as boredom. Dating apps can act as a stimulus of jovial feelings in a monotonous situation, which might work for extroverted individuals. Alongside reducing boredom, agreeableness motive (agreements) is related to boredom, shown by research that said individuals with a level high of cordiality spend time to take part in dating apps more often than those with a lower level.
Based on some studies, which took a sample of users aged 18–26 years, they can verify that the majority of dating apps users who are recreational on these applications do not have the original intention or ambition of dating apps a ‘partner.’ They have ‘recreation’ in dating apps with the aim of pleasure, to get out of the boredom of temporary situations. They will use pick up lines or swipe right on each person to entertain themselves (Bryden, 2017). The pleasure here can be caused by finding the connection of new or simply looking for ‘bustle.’
Supported by the roots of the theory of uses and gratification and are explicitly associated with social media. It is the communication mechanism that allows people to connect and communicate with thousands of people worldwide (Whiting and Williams, 2013). Uses and Gratification Theory is an approach to understand why and how people are actively searching for media-specific to meet their needs. This theory positively correlates to dating apps, where technology helps people meet, connect, and engage in a relationship. Furthermore, essentially giving them a platform to ride their natural desires and instincts. Anticipated with the same intention; new connections, users, are more convenient to look for the new connection through dating apps than other online platforms.
Within all the studies and research that was provided, it could be seen that dating apps have no prominent role in most people’s dating lives now. Apparently, dating apps have a role in constructing jovial feelings for some users by having an entertaining experience inside the dating apps. The entertainment itself could be by finding a match, new connection, or merely swiping each profile to the right or left. With technologies that continue to develop, they are driving changes in the dynamics of social communication. Yet, no end seems to dating apps for storing the strong foundations in public that based technology is practically unstopped and unavoided.
Reference :
Bryden, Lindsey. (2017). Online Dating Applications and The Uses and Gratifications Theory. EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 453
Davis, Dane Anthony. (2015). Undeerstanding The Motivations Behind Dating Applications: Exploring Future Predictions. BS, Southeast Missouri State University.
Editors. (2017). The Great Exquire Sex Study. https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/a57025/the-great-esquire-sex-study-infographic/. Retrieved 24 November 2020 at 19:36
Frazer-Carroll, Micha. (2018). Who Are The People Using Dating Apps With No Intention of Romance or Hooking up ?. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-are-people-using-dating-apps-with-no-intention-of-dating-or-hooking-up_uk_5bd6e9c6e4b055bc948dea39?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF91Sceyu132UW2EBRoboc940mbzyfGOpTWPy4- g8RivXwiF1IUslMzV97pTC_C_TjR5ge7CNCKyEJSZJ9S9D-3owGrc-kDpd0q3B5x8scLaZMU4z4iTDiKRqo3ge1zjXBfCI1cEe4NfOd-16zvclUuaghldDzizvXdRB2jZrehd. Accessed on November 24, 2020 at 20:45
Plunkett, Marie. (2020). Opinion: Dating Apps are a great way to feel connected during the pandemic, help with boredom. https://www.lsureveille.com/opinion/opinion-dating-apps-are-a-great-way-to-feel-connected-during-the-pandemic-help-with/article_a2214392-7424-11ea-8d25- 03f3c6979cab.html. Accessed on 24 November 2020 at 21:30
Her, Yu-Chin., & Timmermans, Elisabeth. (2020). Tinder Blue, Mental Flu? Exploring the Associations Between Tinder Use and Well-Being. Communication & Society. DOI: 10.1080 / 1369118X.2020.1764606
Koman, Tess. (2017). You’ll Never Guess What College Students Are Using Dating Apps for Now. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a9201553/what-students-are-really-using-tinder-for/.
Mohr, Katie. (2017). For Love or For Hookups? How Are People Using Dating Apps? Research and Analysis. https://www.abodo.com/blog/swipe-right-love/. Accessed on 25 November 2020 at 15.53
Nickalis, Sammy. (2017). More Than 50% of People Who Use Tinder Do It Out of Boredom. https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/a12149373/tinder-statistics-study/. Accessed on November 25, 2020 at 16:24
Orosz, G., Benyó, M., Berkes, B., Nikoletti, E., Gál, É., Tóth-Király, I., & Bőthe, B. (2018). The personality, motivational, and need-based background of problematic Tinder use. Journal of behavioral addictions, 7 (2), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.21
Rochat, Lucien., Bianchi- Demicheli, Francesco., Aboujaoude, Elias., & Khazaal, Yasser. (2019). The Psychology of “Swiping”: A Cluster Analysis of The Tinder Mobile Dating App. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. DOI: 10.1556 / 2006.8.2019.58
Sumter, S., Vandenbosch, L., Ligtenberg, L. (2017). Love me Tinder: Untangling Emerging Adults’ Motivations for Using The Dating Application Tinder. Telematics and Informatics Vol 34 Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.04.009.
