It’s a tough pill to swallow, but not everybody on Tinder is using the app to find their one true love…
In fact, many people who use online dating apps are only after one thing. That’s right: sex.
But a new study, conducted by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, has found that a lot of people are using the app for neither of those things.
The study, which comprised 641 students age 19 to 29, found that roughly half of them were using “picture-based mobile dating apps” like Tinder and Bumble.
But according to the data, “dating app users don’t have more casual sexual partners than others with the same short-term preference,” says Mons Bendixen, an associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Psychology.
All in all, people who are using apps like Tinder engage in hooking up at almost the exact same levels as people who don’t use those apps at all.
The study further discovered something that we already know: that for both men and women, the primary reason anybody is using Tinder is as a distraction.
Long story short, if you’ve been on the fence about turning to an app like Tinder… maybe it’s time to let go of your apprehension. Especially since using it won’t actually change anything at all.
