With the use of dating apps like Tinder and Bumble, relationships can now be started with the ease of just your finger tips. For some students like Elon senior, Julian Rigsby, dating apps offer an opportunity to meet people easier.
“I think you can make an extremely real connection and if anything, that space between online to offline is what really matters," said Rigsby. "Because you are making that initiative to turn an online relationship into a real thing and actually meet the person.”
Dating apps are applications you can get on mobile devices that let you meet people based off pictures and bios. Although it depends on the app, you are able to message and talk to people right away, who interest you.
Initiating Change
As dating apps continue to grow their platform, many are expanding to reach a larger audience, especially with college students. Tinder for example has grown from about 16 thousand users at the end of 2016 to over 41 thousnd users at the end of 2018, according to Yahoo Finace. The app, Bumble specifically is creating a wave across campuses with promotion initiatives. Elon sophomore and Bumble Ambassador, Hannah Clements was one of the students at Elon working to promote Bumble.
“What they're trying to do is put it in college campuses and have students market it so that it becomes more popular," said Clements. "Instead of having like ads on TV or something they're doing, like they're putting all their money of advertising and to students.”
Bumble sticker on a college campus.With using college students like Clements, Bumble is able to have college students being the ones doing the promoting. Although this is Bumble’s tactic for advertising its app, not all students like having a dating app sign everywhere they look.
“I think the Bumble Nation was kind of annoying just because it's like it's all over. It's little overdone I think,” said Rigsby.
Using Dating Apps
Dating apps make it easy for people to meet someone without the pressure of meeting them in person. Some people forget that at a point, a relationship has to move to in person. Rigsby said he has met many people through dating apps, even if it is just a new friend or an actual date.
Messaging on a dating app.“If I swipe right on somebody, my intention is to meet them in person. But that doesn't happen every time and that's fine," said Rigsby. "Like I don't just talk to people cause I'm bored, but a lot of people do that.”
Although Rigsby's goal is to meet his match in person, others are also looking for something more serious. In a study conducted by an SMS Marketing service, over 40 percent of females and over 35 percent of males say they are lookign for a long-term relationship on dating apps. Rigsby said sometimes things don't go your way on dating apps even if you are looking for something more serious.
"Try not to get mad when something doesn't go your way because, there's two human beings involved," said Rigsby. "A lot of people just forget that it's another human that feels and thinks the same random, impulsive and funny thoughts that they do, on the other side of that screen."
Elon Junior, Sohpia Diaz actually met her boyfriend of over a year through Tinder. Although their relationship is long distance now, they met while they were both in college at Elon. When Diaz met her boyfriend on a dating app, she made sure to make her intentions clear by her choice of words.
Diaz talking to her boyfriend.She said when they first matched on Tinder, they didn't start really talking until months after. Now, they communicate a lot over the phone and see each other when they can while they still make long distance work.
Diaz said it can be embarrasing sometimes to say she met her boyfriend on Tinder, but "it's honest and the scope of our relationship is so much more than that."
"Don't judge people for meeting someone through a dating app," said Diaz. "It's a way of meeting people and it's the future I guess."
Looking ahead, long term relationships can often turn into marriages. In the study done by the SMS Marketing service, they found that almost a quarter of people who met on dating apps are married now.
For Diaz and her boyfriend, their focus is just on making the long distance relationship continue to work. Communication and creating a connection through a screen can have it's challenges, but for Rigsby, he always tries to remember that both him and the other person have to be on the same page.