By The popularity of dating sites has grown over the past few years. The stigmas attached to meeting people online seems to be fading into the past as we see our generation, and even younger generations, joining in on the digital dating game.
According to an article from Forbes Magazine, 11 percent of American adults use online dating sites. In 2008, only 3 percent of American adults were active online dating subscribers.
As of 2014, the Pew Research Center reported 42 percent of Americans know someone who uses an online dating site.
With the rise in subscribers to online dating sites, it seems people have grown accustomed to the prospect of online dating and more free dating sites are popping up.
Some dating apps, such as Lulu, are marketed specifically toward female college students. On Lulu, users rate male Facebook friends with the use of popular hashtags, including “#hot,” and “#goodinbed.”
According to New York Magazine, Lulu has more than one million users after its launch and estimates it reaches one in four college girls in America.
The increasing number of people with smart phones is allowing online dating to be more readily accessible, especially among the younger generation.
With almost all dating sites available as free apps for smart phones, people could find meeting people in real life as a burden.
People can order just about anything through an app, from food to cars, why not order a date at the same time?
Some of the most popular dating sites for the younger generation include OkCupid.com, POF.com and the dating app Tinder.
In some countries, Tinder users already account for more than 1 percent of the country’s entire population, according to a Quartz report on NPR.com.
These sites all offer free dating services, which include the option of apps on smartphones.
The rise of online dating drastically shifts the dating spectrum from meeting someone in person to simply interacting through digital profiles.
We think this wave of online dating sites may stem from the popular social medias that already exist.
Most college students have apps that include social media giants, such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, which may have influenced increasing contact through a digital world.
It seems that it’s becoming the norm for our generation to use dating sites to find a date and potential partner.
There are benefits to the online dating trend, seeing how students and many people in the world have part or full time jobs.
Online dating, especially the use of apps, allow us to connect to other young daters with ease.
With the popularity in young adults using dating sites, the taboo stigma attached to their use seems to be quickly diminishing. Who knows? Online dating may quickly become the primary source for finding dates… or maybe it already is.
There is one thing, though, that that concerns us about the free online dating sites and that is the intention of the people who use these apps.
Are people genuinely trying to find a partner or are they just looking for a “fun buddy” to pass the time with?
Although we don’t see the increase in dating sites as a bad thing, we think daters who use these services to find a purely sexual relationship is very real and a bit sad.
