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Those not looking for love might be surprised to find out that it's not games or texts but dating apps that are a huge reason why people keep turning their phone on. Dating apps are bigger than most video games now. Badoo.com, a dating site, polled its millions of users and found that millennials (age 18 to 30) spend an average of 20 hours a week on these dating match sites.
Marketwatch says the singles industry is worth about $3 billion dollars. The early favorite, Match.com, now runs Tinder, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, Match, Hinge, and dozens of others. But with this abundance of apps to choose to join and follow, come consequences.
Researchers in a study published in The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships said that for a certain group—those singles who also had social anxiety—there was a danger of becoming addicted, in a way that impacted their work and the rest of their social life badly (Of course, some might say that 20 hours a week playing the dating game would be an addiction for everyone).
Does Online Dating Work?
Here's the good part: Pew Research Center says there is not (as much) of a stigma to finding your love online now. Yay, Pew! They say it works ... sometimes.
Consumer Reports has also lept into the fray of hot dating sites, to rate them. Lest readers think they are becoming too humanistic, and therefore suspect, Consumer Reports gives an explanation about their off-beat behavior: "Given that we usually rate products (like refrigerators) and services (like banking), this is new and fairly unusual territory for us."
After that blushing admission, they report the numbers: 44 percent of the over 115,000 people they tallied had at least one long-term relationship from dating sites. That's huge.
Facebook Dating
And this year, your chances of meeting "the one" online grew substantially. Facebook Dating launched in the U.S. in September of this year. It's separate from Facebook, and Facebook claims all the data it has on you will be kept private, except for your name and age. And here's an interesting detail, from Wired: "One thing it won't show you are your existing Facebook friends—that option is turned off by default."
Facebook Dating will also include Instagram stories and Dating Crush, "a feature that lets users select up to nine Facebook friends they want to express an interest in—as long as that person indicates they have a crush back."
Of course, the usual caveats about keeping safe, protecting your privacy, and, again, keeping safe apply with all these apps. Facebook Dating goes further with a safety feature that will tell a friend you choose where you are going and who it's with ... for an hour. You can also block friends of friends, and date outside your circle.
Now's the time to dip your toe in the water. And the apps might forget to tell you this but remember: there's a lid for every pot.
What is your experience with online dating, and did it help you find someone? Have you tried Facebook Dating?
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