Many millennials “swipe right” — not always for a future significant other, but more so to find new friends.
According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, online dating is the new fad for millennials and has tripled in memberships since 2013. A few Dixie State University students said they are familiar with dating resources like LDS Singles, OkCupid and the dating app, Tinder.
Some students at DSU have a different outlook on online dating.
McKenna Hodge, a freshman criminal justice major from Hurricane, said, “Tinder scares me; I have just had bad experiences with the people I’ve met through Tinder.”
Hodge is not alone in that statement.
Ashley Imlay, a senior English major from St. George, said, “I find Tinder and other dating websites shady or un-real.”
Imlay said Tinder is just “window shopping.”
“Really the only reason I have a Tinder account is to meet new people, and I don’t even use it that much,” said Sara Warr, a senior communication studies major from Cottonwood Heights. Warr said she feels uncomfortable and people tend to be shallow on dating websites. “a picture can say nothing,” said Warr.
Assumptions can be made that others are just using an online dating account to hide behind a computer or to catfish others, which is creating a fake account to lure others into believing someone they are not.
This is not true with all users of dating websites, yet it is still wise to be cautious. Dating websites are for all ages, and sometimes are the only way people really feel comfortable using as a dating device.
Alex Phillips, a sophomore computer and information technology major from Hurricane, said he only used dating websites to put himself in the dating scene. Phillips said he is shy and is not comfortable around large groups. “Dating is not really something I put much thought in,” Phillips said. “But if I were to, I would go back to websites to meet new people.”
Seth Belnap, a general education major from Payson, said he finds Tinder to be one of the better ways of online dating. Belnap said, “Other websites like Hot Or Not or Christian Mingle are weird and just were not good for me.”
“I wasn’t very successful on dating through Tinder or other accounts, but I did get to meet some new people,” Belnap said.
Belnap said he agreed with Imlay that using Tinder is like window shopping and said a person has ten seconds to judge someone according to his or her profile pictures
Holly Harrington, a sophomore general education major from St. George, said she does not use social media to date but attends social events to meet new people.
Leaving online dating out of the picture, students at DSU use other ways to meet and date people. Some examples or ways to meet new people are Spotlight Karaoke, a variety of clubs, and classes’.
“Online dating is more for people who are older and are struggling to date people,” Harrington said. “If someone is 25 or older and [is] worrying about dating, then social media is a great way to meet people to date.”
Dating through a computer screen doesn’t usually beat the experience of meeting people face-to-face.