The future of relationships based on "dating applications" raises controversy, and a Swiss study believes that it helps to establish more lasting relationships ... and accusations that it holds responsible for harming the quality of the intimate relationship.
The Internet provides an unprecedented opportunity to connect without much effort
Over the past years, electronic applications have played a prominent role in all aspects of life, from opening wide horizons for social communication with people of different nationalities and cultures throughout the day, to medical applications, making business deals and playing team games with people from countries far apart from distances and borders.
In the context, a study conducted by a research team at the University of "Geneva" Switzerland confirmed that people who met their partners through dating applications often have stronger goals for a long-term relationship, and that these new ways of meeting people encourage social, educational and geographical mixing between people of various cultures.
Find a life partner
Online and mobile dating apps are a great way to chat and meet new people, whether in close proximity to the person or from other places around the world, and dating applications help a person - in many cases - to find his life partner.
Criticism
With the increasing popularity of dating applications, the criticism has increased, accusing her of threatening the lack of a long-term commitment between the parties, and that it harms the quality of the intimate relationship, but there is no scientific evidence to verify the validity of these allegations.
Pluses
A study published recently in the journal PLOS ONE indicated that “couples who met via dating apps have stronger intentions of coexistence than couples who meet in a non-digital environment, and women who find their partner through a dating app have desires and intentions. Stronger in having children compared to those who found their partner outside of smart phone applications such as the "Tender" application, where users choose partners by browsing and swiping on pictures. "
Fears
“The Internet provides an unprecedented opportunity to communicate without much effort and without interference from a third party,” says Gina Butarka, a researcher at the Institute of Demography and Social Economy at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Geneva, and a participant in the study. Many media outlets claim that it has a negative impact on the quality of relationships because it makes people unable to invest in an exclusive or long-term relationship.
Using data from a 2018 Swiss Federal Statistical Office survey, the researchers analyzed a subsample of 3,235 people over the age of 18 who had met their partners in the past decade.
According to age
Butarca adds: Dating apps mainly attract people over the age of 40 and / or divorcees looking for romance, and with the exception of the lengthy surveys, self-descriptions and personality tests that dating site users usually need to fill out to create a profile, dating apps are much easier. In usage, this led to making online dating a natural thing, and also attracting younger groups of the population, and the results showed that couples who got to know each other through an application were more willing to coexist than others in a country with a divorce rate. Around 40%.
Mixing between different levels of education
The study confirms that dating applications encouraged mixing between different levels of education, especially between women with higher education and less educated men, adding that "the periods of closures and social distancing that accompanied the outbreak of the new Corona virus led to an increase in the use of dating applications."
A sociology teacher says: “The Internet and digital media helped to form and build digital relationships that may later turn into realistic direct relationships. Dating applications have spread in Western societies as a result of the prevailing individual relationships between individuals as a manifestation of modernity, or perhaps for commercial and marketing purposes, on the other hand. Contrary to Arab societies that prefer direct relationships that are characterized by familiarity, cooperation, brotherhood and support. And he agrees with the Swiss study stated that "smart applications have actually contributed to reducing the gender gap and strengthening the communication process."
However, he believes - on the other hand - that the study was conducted on Swiss society, and therefore its results are appropriate for the environment in which it was conducted, and that they cannot be blinded to Arab or Egyptian society. Due to his cultural specificity, he said.
Dating applications depend on displaying different pictures of its subscribers, and the excessive use of dating applications harms the quality of direct intimate relationships, and leaves negative effects on individuals, according to his description.