Have you ever used a dating app?
I would go as far as to say that most of us, if we have not used a dating app personally, know someone who has used one. In September 2019, Tinder reported that it had 7.86 million users in the United States. Bumble, a dating app created to allow women to make the first move, had 5.03 million mobile users. Below you will find a chart displaying the most popular online dating apps in the United States sized in millions of users. You can also find the chart here.
While dating apps may be helping us fight the ease of loneliness and help connect us to others across various distances, there are some significant draw backs to these apps. One of the major draw backs to these apps are the impacts that these apps can have on the mental health of its users. There seems to be some negative effects on the mental health of users, with a survey showing that 49% of users with a pre-existing mood disorder report depressive symptoms triggered by online dating. Dating apps can negatively impact its users by triggering feelings of anxiety, poor body image, and may even lower self esteem. These apps may give us a sense of instance gratification in the moment but we cannot lose ourselves in that feeling.
This does not mean we have to stop using dating apps. We are still in the middle of a pandemic and we may be relying on these sites to help keep us sane in a world that is constantly changing. There are some things we can do for ourselves to maintain our mental health while using these apps. We can set time limits to ensure we do not spend too much time on the apps, ensure that we are in the right head space for ourselves to be on the app, and set health boundaries for ourselves and the people we interact with and stick to them.
But we might still be asking what are the companies doing for us? What are Bumble and Tinder doing to make sure we are safe and health while using their product? Well, there are a few things happening. Bumble is including links and resources for taking care of your mental health on its mobile app. Bumble's How To Protect Your Mental Health article includes various infographics and material written by various health professionals. Bumble also closed its office for a week to protect the mental health of its workers during the height of the pandemic. We can still use our favorite apps, dating or otherwise, but we have to make sure our health is the top priority, not matter how tempting the swipes may be.
How are you going to take care of your mental health today?
Hi, Tereza. Apps used for dating have always been very popular, which I know, and this is also true in our country. You said in your article that dating APP has caused some physical and psychological discomfort and sub-health status. Of course, rational use of such apps is a solution, but I think that people's travel is greatly restricted due to the epidemic situation, which may also be one of the main culprits for people's sub-health, but these dating apps have become the fuse. Because of the epidemic situation, we can't go to our favorite restaurants, we can only cook at home, we can't go to our favorite gyms, and we can't help getting fat, which leads to body anxiety. Because we can't go to our favorite places to play, we have difficulty falling asleep, which leads to physical discomfort and so on.
ReplyDeleteThen, because it is a dating application, we can't help but want to give each other a good impression, but our current state is not the one we want to show others, so we are anxious, which in turn aggravates various sub-health symptoms, which is a vicious circle.
Hi YiXie,
DeleteI agree with you that the pandemic has impacted people in numerous ways, but dating apps have put a toll on individual's mental health before the pandemic. I know Bumble and Tinder has caused people I knew personally great emotional toll. It is a vicious cycle, and I think people need to be more weary of dating apps especially when the pandemic is over.
Hi, Tereza. I think this vicious circle will automatically end with the end of the epidemic. At that time, people were free to go out of their homes and integrate into the society. At that time, people would no longer need to use dating software frequently to communicate with others.
DeleteTereza, this is such a fascinating topic! To be honest, I've never really ventured onto dating apps because of this concern. It's not like regular social media apps don't cause the same issues, but I think what really gets me is the fact that it's so competitive! You mention that it can cause us to compare ourselves to others, which all social media networks do, but it seems amplified in a world where dating is the end goal. I completely agree that our mental health is of the utmost importance, especially considering we're still in a pandemic! What are some strategies you use to take care of your mental health? I love journaling and meditation!
ReplyDeleteHi, Tereza. Your sharing is very interesting. Although I have not used similar software, I am very interested in the topic of mental health. I think the view that the dating apps you mentioned can cause anxiety, bad body image, and possibly even lower self-esteem and other negative effects is one-sided. I think the main reason for these negative states is the various restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, indulging in these dating apps does cause image anxiety or insomnia and other unhealthy states, which in turn leads to negative emotions. In short, the most important thing is to be self-disciplined. As long as you can exercise self-discipline, you can exercise at home and maintain a good physical and mental state.
ReplyDeleteHi Tereza,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea on choosing dating app as your topic for the original post. To answer the question you asked at the beginning of your post: Yes, I actually used dating app for several times. But I never spent a lot of time on that, I mainly used it as a tool to talk to random strangers when I have bad moods. The benefit of it is that I don't have to add any of them to my contacts, and that I can block them and report them if anything went wrong.
As a matter of fact, my therapist actually recommend me to use dating apps like Plenty of Fish. I know that some people with mental health issues would share their stories or seek help/comforts in public posts on dating app. What I don't know is that dating apps could actually generate negative effects on the mental health. But after reading your post, I understand that it's not that I don’t know about the issues, it's that I didn't notice them before, or realized that it triggered feelings of anxiety, poor body image, and may even lower self esteem.
I don't if you have ever encountered this, but I want share some ridiculously bizarre phenomenon that I came across on some dating apps: many guys (there are girls who did this, but most of them are guys) use pictures of other people as their profiles. You've probably guessed it, the boys in the pictures they stole are all handsome, cute, tall, rich, have great body figures with six packs. It became a serious scary issue when there are a huge amount of guys doing it, and deceiving is involved.