Why You Should Never Use Dating Apps
It’s difficult to remember a time before dating apps were ubiquitous.
In the past few years, dating apps have become a major player in the world of online dating, and they’re now incredibly common among people of all ages. They’ve all but replaced traditional methods of meeting people, and they’re only becoming more popular as time goes on.
There are a few reasons for this: first, dating apps make it easier than ever to meet potential partners; second, they’re relatively cheap and easy to use; and third, they’re extremely convenient. You can use them anytime, anywhere, and you don’t even need to leave your house.
This all sounds great, right? Well, not so fast! While dating apps can certainly be helpful, they’re not without their drawbacks. Let’s take a closer look at some of the downsides to using them.
12 reasons why you shouldn’t use dating apps
1. You never know who you’re talking to
When you’re using a dating app, you’re essentially talking to strangers. You have no idea who they really are, what their motives are, or whether or not they’re being truthful with you. This can be extremely dangerous, especially if you’re meeting up with someone in person.
There have been cases of men using dating apps to lure in women, only to rob and/or assault them. This is becoming more and more common.
2. Everything’s based on aesthetics
We can pretend all we like, but the fact is that most people judge others based on their looks. And when you’re looking at dozens of photos and brief bios, it’s all too easy to swipe left or right based on superficial criteria.
And how many people actually stop to read bios these days? Probably not many, which means they’re basing their swipes on looks alone.
3. You can waste a lot of time swiping through profiles
It’s so easy to get caught up swiping left and right that you don’t notice the minutes (and hours) ticking by. Suddenly, it’s 2 AM and you’re still swiping, with no end in sight.
What’s more, all that swiping you did still hasn’t landed you a date!
4. It’s easy to become addicted to “the thrill of the swipe”
Continuing on from the previous point, it’s all too easy to get addicted to swiping. You’re excited to see who comes up next, and there’s always the chance that you’ll find someone even more attractive than the last person.
It’s a dangerous, often unproductive, cycle and one that can be hard to break out of.
5. “Ghosting” is becoming more and more common
“Ghosting” is the term used to describe the act of suddenly disappearing on someone you’re talking to, without any explanation. It’s a cowardly way to end things, but it’s becoming more and more common, thanks in part to dating apps.
If you’ve ever been ghosted, you know how frustrating and hurtful it can be. You could be getting on like a house on fire with someone, only to have them vanish into thin air without so much as a word.
This happens all the time on dating apps. People just stop messaging, and you’re left wondering why.
6. You might accidentally swipe left on your soulmate
We’ve all been there: you’re swiping away, mindlessly looking for a date, when suddenly you come across someone who looks perfect. But before you can even say hello, you accidentally swipe left and they’re gone forever.
It’s a heartbreaking moment, and it happens more often than you might think. For this reason, apps like Hinge allow you to “rewind” and take another look at someone you might have accidentally passed over.
7. Catfishing is real
So real, in fact, that they made a TV show about it. “Catfishing” is when someone pretends to be someone else online, often using fake photos and information. They might do this for a variety of reasons, but most often it’s to get attention or money from their victim.
While catfishing isn’t unique to dating apps, it’s become more common with their rise in popularity.
Romance scams run by Nigerian and Russian gangs are particularly popular nowadays. How they work is the scammer will create a fake profile, usually using stolen photos, and start chatting with their victim. They’ll build up a rapport, gain their trust, and then start asking for money.
8. Dating apps create the illusion of infinite choice
In the real world, we’re limited by our geographical location and the people around us. But on dating apps, the whole world is essentially available to us. This creates an illusion of infinite choice, whereby we think there’s always someone better out there who’s just one swipe away.
It’s a dangerous mindset to get into, and it could lead to us discounting perfectly good matches just because we think there’ll be someone who ticks all the boxes on the next swipe.
This also teaches people not to nurture their relationships because they think they can always find something better.
9. It’s just one more thing to check on your phone
We already spend far too much time on our phones as it is. Do we really need to be checking yet another app all the time?
Dating apps are just one more thing that we have to check every day, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to disconnect from them. This can lead to us feeling even more attached to our phones and less connected with the people around us.
10. You can’t make a real connection online
Okay, so there’s a plethora of success stories about people who’ve met their soulmates on dating apps. But for every one of those stories, there are thousands more about people who’ve had no success at all and have been unable to make real connections.
Dating apps can be a great way to meet new people, but they’re also notoriously shallow. At the end of the day, unless we meet someone in person, we’ll never get a true sense of who they are and whether or not we have a connection. Typing messages back and forth will only get you so far.
11. Most apps have limited free versions
App developers need to make money somehow, and most of them do it by offering a limited free version of their app with the option to upgrade to a paid version.
This sometimes means that unless you’re willing to pay for the privilege, you might not even be able to message your matches or see who liked your profile.
12. You give away too much personal data
When you sign up for a dating app, you’re giving away a lot of personal information. Not only do you have to share your name and photos, but you might also be required to share your location, phone number, email address, and more.
This is a lot of sensitive information that could be used to exploit you. Hackers have been known to target dating apps in order to gain access to people’s data. Once they have your information, they could use it to commit identity theft or fraud.
Conclusion
We all want to find love, and as more aspects of our daily lives move online, it’s only natural that our quest for love would follow suit. But as convenient as dating apps might be, they’ll never trump good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction.
There’s just something about meeting someone in person that can’t be replicated online. So while dating apps might make the process of finding a date easier, they’ll never replace the value of human connection.