How Using Dating Apps Can Be Bad For You – Firstpost

Dating apps can be fun but also exhausting. Swiping left and right until you find your “perfect” match can lead to burnout. While people often join these online apps in search of hookups and relationships, their experience isn’t always positive.

The question of the impact of dating apps on mental health has been around for a long time. Like other social media platforms, these apps are accused of being addictive.

As we celebrate World Mental Health Day on Thursday (October 10), we look at how dating apps can be harmful and how to protect your mental health.

The “rush” of dating apps

Dating apps have become go-to platforms for people looking for love, crushes, or both.

Swiping right on someone’s profile and interacting with them can feel good, especially if you’ve been feeling down or not having a good day.

Getting a like or swipe right can give users “a rush,” said Elias Aboujaoude, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford. National Geographic.

According to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, 59% of American respondents said that dating apps and websites are “a good way to meet people.”

Dating apps have also grown in India. Up to 82.4 million (more than 8 million people) used these apps by 2023, up 293% from five years ago, according to a minuscule report

How dating apps affect mental health

Sifting through hundreds of profile pictures and bios to find your “perfect” match can seem like a chore. After the novelty of using a dating app wears off, there comes a time when monotonous conversations about meeting the person become tiresome.

A 2020 survey of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that people on dating apps have increased rates of psychological distress, anxiety and depression.

Tinder users had lower self-esteem and more body image issues than people who didn’t use the app, according to a 2016 study.

From perfectly curated filtered profile pictures to bios, people show off their best dating apps to get the right swipe. When the online version doesn’t match the user’s real-life version, it can lead to disappointment. Intense focus on someone’s physical appearance can also be objectifying and dehumanizing.

“When we as human beings are represented simply by appearance, we begin to look at ourselves in a very similar way: as an object to be evaluated,” 2016 study co-author Trent Petrie, professor of psychology at the University of North Texas, he said weather magazine

Constantly swiping through dating apps when your match is drying up can be overwhelming. The online dating pool is bigger compared to real life, but talking to so many people can be confusing and make it difficult to make decisions.

“People just get tired. They get overwhelmed with the whole dating process,” said Helen Fisher, chief scientific advisor at dating app Match.com. New York Times (NYT).

Then there is the fear of being addicted.

The hope of finding the perfect match is tempting. talking with NYT, Shani Silver, author of A unique revolutionsaid, “Imagine waiting to receive something good for years. To exist in this ‘any day now’ state for an extremely extended period of time is incredibly unhealthy.”

In February of this year, six people in the United States filed a class-action lawsuit, accusing the popular dating apps of designing “addictive, game-like” features designed to “lock users into a perpetual loop of paying for play”.

Features like push notifications keep users coming back. “The brain is hardwired to become addicted, especially when it comes to love,” Fisher said. National Geographic.

Absy Sam, a counseling psychologist from Mumbai said indian today“I’ve worked with clients who struggle with addiction to dating apps. These people often experience a deep sense of dissatisfaction and longing for connection, which leads them to seek solace in the digital spectrum.”

Signs of addiction include compulsively checking dating apps, cutting yourself off from the real world to use dating apps, and experiencing anxiety while not using them.

You can’t escape rejection while dating. This is true both in real life and online. However, as the dating pool has grown with virtual platforms, so has the frequency of rejection.

Constant rejection can affect a person’s self-esteem and sow self-doubt. Research shows that people behave differently online than their real-life counterparts. This could lead to behaviors such as ghosting and breadcrumbing, which can hurt the other person and lead to anxiety and self-doubt.

How to protect your mental health

You can’t control your party’s behavior, but you can control how you handle it. Don’t take rejections personally and think there is something “wrong” with you. Instead, go ahead, take a break, and interact with your loved ones in real life.

Being on too many dating apps also increases the chances of rejection. It’s better to use one dating app at a time and talk to a few people.

Like any other social media platform, it is imperative to limit the amount of time you use dating apps in a day. Aboujaoude said National Geographic that spending hours on dating apps could be a coping mechanism for depression or anxiety.

Spending hours swiping won’t get you a faster match, it will only negatively affect your mental health.

If you trust the person you’re chatting with on dating apps, it’s better to meet them in real life (in a public place). You can never fully know a person if you don’t know them personally. This can reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with endless online conversations that go nowhere.

Treat others as you would like to be treated and be clear about your intention to join a dating app.

With contributions from agencies