Maybe We Should Give Dating Apps Another Chance..?

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I think we can all agree that the current dating climate is in a bit of a shambles. People don’t want to fall in love organically like the movies.

Nobody wants their meet-cute. No-one is willing to stop you in your tracks, astonished by the beauty you possess and ask you out on a date, unless it’s 4am and you’re outside of a kebab shop slightly toppling over! Dating organically is at the hardest it’s ever been. 

With the decline of third spaces no one is really putting themselves out there to have new encounters with people. Our culture makes it quite easy to hide behind a wall… a digital wall.

There’s a certain ease that comes with a coy follow on Instagram, and then a cheeky Story like to shoot your shot. Then – BOOM! Next thing you know they’ve successfully taken all the hints and slid straight into your DMs. I mean, with that kind of ease who would want to apprehensively walk up to someone and ask for their number with the potential threat of being shut down? 

In a survey conducted by Bumble, the dating app found that 67% of Irish users have hopes of being in a relationship by the end of the year. Hinge users felt similarly with a staggering 75% of users hoping for committed love.

We spoke to Rachel (22), a Hinge user who expressed how her opinions of the dating apps have changed recently. “I mean, I have met the majority of my friends online so it makes sense that my next potential partner will be someone I meet online,” she says. 

“I think [apps can be] very stigmatised, when in reality we live so much of our lives online. It’s natural to use this method towards dating also.”

It’s important to acknowledge that with the advancement of technology certain apps do make life easier. The internet has provided us with a multitude of helpful resources for everyday life, dating included. We have an opportunity to leverage these apps and use them to our advantage.

We can use them as a help to get closer to meeting someone. They’re a tool. You may not meet your Romeo or Juliet, but at least given today’s dating conditions, you can say made an effort to try. Times are changing and we can’t be bound to the original systems of courting. Help yourself out, get rid of the shame.

Don’t view the apps as an embarrassment, view them as a help, a symptom of the digital age. Get with the times! Who knows… you might get lucky! 

Words by Ebun Lofinmakin 

• Dating