Online Dating Research

Meeting people and initiating intimate relationships has become very accessible in the world of technology. This paper intends to explore the psychology of hookup culture via technology and delve into the question of why people are utilizing technology to find sexual partners. Hookup culture refers to the idea that people are engaging in sexual behaviors with no intent of maintaining the relationship afterwards. Hookup activities may include a wide range of sexual behaviors, such as, kissing, oral sex, and penetrative intercourse (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, Merriwether 2012). So why would people be more okay with casual encounters with strangers as opposed to building lasting relationships?
Since the late nineties, the emergence of technology;
One of the biggest downfalls is that users on dating sites go into ‘shopping mode;’ or looking at potential matches as products. The problem with this way of thinking is that users may be looking at superficial qualities such as level of attractiveness as opposed to actually getting to know the person on the other side of the screen. Many users judge the potential match based on pictures alone and do not even bother looking deeper into the profile itself. Doing this may limit the number of matches a person may get, as well as the realistic nature of an individual actually getting a date based on higher standards set by the ‘shopping mode’ frame of
Tinder was launched in 2012 and was originally marketed as a matchmaking service that links users based on information found on their Facebook account. A Tinder profile takes into consideration the users interests; which is found by ‘liking’ certain things on Facebook, the age of the user, their first name, a few profile pictures, and a brief biography that is allocated in hopes of finding the perfect match. There are ten million active users daily as reported in a 2014 article by Covarrubias. A ‘match’ is made by either swiping left to indicate that you are not interested in a specified user, or by swiping right to indicate that you are interested in a specified user on your mobile device. Another option for each potential match is something called ‘super like’, which immediately informs the other user that you are really interested in them. Once ‘super liked’ the other user can then decide if the likeness is mutual. From there, users can interact with one another by sending them private messages. Users often objectify themselves through their images and profile description of themselves in order to get matches. Most users do not intend on actually meeting up with their matches in person, but when they do meet up it is usually to exchange sexual favors. It is generally acceptable on this interface to go from ‘hey, how are you’ to ‘do you want to have sex?’ rather quickly. Tinder encourages users to interact