Dating Apps

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nline Dating Applications, or Dating Apps, are web-hosted dating services accessible as a mobile

The most popular dating apps of 2020

phone application. They often take advantage of the mobile phone's many affordances, such as the GPS location capabilities, on-hand presence, and the accessibility to other hosted applications on the phone such as photos or videos.

Dating applications today increase the frequency with which traditional dating takes place, introducing individuals to a variety of possible matches based on characteristics such as location, possible interests or hobbies, and even religious or ethnic preferences. By leveraging various affordances, dating applications allow users to seek potential new relationships regardless of how invested users are, though it is dependent on how a user engages with the platform itself.

History of Online Dating Applications

Technology has been a part of modern dating practices since the 1950s. Operation Match

The Operation Match report given to a participant after matching was done algorithmically

is considered to be the first dating service to incorporate the use of a computer. Launched in 1965, Operation Match utilized the IBM 7090 computer to algorithmically create matches based on responses collected through paper questionnaires. Created by students at Harvard University, Operation Match remained a service to help college students find dates rather than foster relationships that could potentially lead to marriage.

In the late 1970s, services that allowed video dating began to rise. In 1995, the popular dating service match.com launched and was soon followed by other competitors such as eharmony.com, Ashley Madison, and OKCupid. However, it was not until 2009 that dating became accessible via a mobile phone application. Grindr became the inaugural mobile-first platform by providing a location-based dating application geared towards homosexual men. In 2012, Tinder was founded by a startup incubator Hatch Labs and the dating "swipe" became increasingly popular. By 2013, Tinder was processing over 350 million swipes per day and by 2014, over 1 billion swipes per day. Other popular dating applications such as JSwipe, targeted toward singles of Jewish descent, and Bumble, which requires women to initiate conversations, also launched in 2014. In 2018, it was estimated that nearly 23.8 million adults utilized a dating application of some kind.

Affordances of Dating Applications

Many social media scholars have cited that mobility, proximity, immediacy, and visual dominance are affordances that differentiate dating applications from online dating websites. Because dating applications are used on a smartphone, users are able to utilize the application at any point in time from any location, thereby increasing the mobility as well as the accessibility of a dating service. While online dating sites provide possible matches by examining the general region in which the user resides, a dating application narrows the scope much further and often returns possible matches within the same vicinity, thereby increasing a user's proximity to a potential match. Dating applications are also more visually driven compared to online dating websites, as images of a potential match take up a sizable portion of a phone screen compared to a computer screen.

As forms of computer-mediated communication, dating applications also portray many of the affordances of social network sites. Presentation flexibility, the extent to which a platform affords the ability to engage in self-presentation through a variety of styles, is particularly noteworthy on dating applications. On Bumble, a user has the ability to not only upload images of their choosing, but are also provided with text-boxes to create a short 'bio' and with a variety of structured profile fields that allow a user to disclose any additional information about themselves, ranging from their religious and ethnic preferences to their smoking/drinking habits and political views. Content and Identity persistence are also key affordances of dating applications as any information a user chooses to disclose remains associated with that user until they choose to change it. Dating applications allow the user to be linked to a stable online identity, greatly reducing anonymity as well as the tendency to create temporary accounts.

Ethical Issues Surrounding Dating Applications

Commodifying Relationships

One ethical issue that arises from the use of dating applications is the commodification of relationships. Most dating applications, utilizing locations, preferences, and other factors, algorithmically personalize potential matches to the user. As a result, it creates a "shopping culture" where users are seeking potential partners as they would items at a grocery store, having with them a pre-determined "list" of qualities they are looking for in a partner. This phenomenon is further exacerbated by the vast amount of choice available to users through a dating application. As users are exposed to the vast 'supply' of potential partners that fit within the realm of their preferences, individuals are more likely to engage in a cost-benefit analysis with potential partners.

Relationships begin to be viewed in terms of probabilities and odds as users become aware that there are plenty of options available in the 'marketplace' even if one interaction does not meet expectations. Therefore, the ability to find and create meaningful relationships likely diminishes. This phenomenon also decreases the likelihood of remaining in or maintaining previously committed relationships. The possibility of greater choice as presented by dating applications can lead to further unethical behavior such as infidelity as users attempt to explore other possibilities.

Deception

Another ethical issue surrounding the use of dating applications is the likelihood of deception. To safeguard the authenticity of a user, many dating applications like Tinder and Bumble require the use of a Facebook profile or an existing email address when creating an account. Users are also advised but not required to follow a "one-time selfie" policy to ensure that the images being posted are representative of the user themselves. However, the construction of the profile

Reflecting a persona different from your own is possible on dating apps

on the dating application itself can be entirely falsified beyond the images themselves. Most users engage in mechanisms of self-presentation, providing "highlight reels" of their best qualities through their profile. As a result, the lack of full disclosure can lead to possible deception when users engage in offline interactions.

Furthermore, the affordance of presentation flexibility allows a user to craft a persona entirely different from themselves or purposefully misrepresent particular qualities as a way of receiving more or higher quality matches. Deception can also vary significantly in how harmful it is. For example, many women tend to underreport their weight on dating applications as an effort to appear more attractive to the opposite sex, which can be considered relatively minor deception based on how inaccurate the report was. However, deception of greater degrees not only diminishes the possibility of initiating a successful relationship, but can also have more harmful psychological effects for the parties involved.

Privacy

Privacy is also another ethical issue common amongst dating applications. Since many dating applications are location-based and utilize GPS, there is a high possibility for these applications to undergo privacy breaches. In 2019, OKCupid came under scrutiny as users were dealing with an increasing amount of hackers that were changing their login information though the company denied a possible breach. In November 2013, Quartz found a privacy breach: the API design was falsely telling users that a match had been created when it had not been, allowing users to find other users' email addresses.

Furthermore, many dating application sites sell the personal information of their users to thousands of third-party vendors. While some dating applications like Tinder are semi-transparent about the involvement of third-party vendors in their privacy policies, the fact that users' personal information geared toward creating a potential relationship can be accessible to several third-party vendors, sometimes without their knowledge, illustrates the ethical consequences of utilizing a dating application. While the use of other social network sites such as Facebook and Instagram can help improve the authenticity of the users engaged on the platforms, it also provides access to possible images and information beyond what a user discloses on the dating application itself. This also poses a major privacy risk as potential scammers can utilize the connectivity of the various platforms to generate a more in-depth user profile, leading to a greater possibility of various cybersecurity issues, such as identity theft.