Online dating provides users with the ideal place to meet people that have similar likes, dislikes and character traits to them. So, if one-in-three people out there are doing it, who is the typical online dater?
Although such a large number of people are dating online, our study has found that if you decide to take part, you are most likely to be in the company of users that meet the following criteria. Many people that are on the online dating scene are young, as the This tech-savvy age group is likely embracing online dating as a way to meet interesting new people while balancing busy professional lives.
Online daters are most likely to visit dating apps and services from Windows PCs and Android smartphones than any other type of device. So why are these people going online to start up relationships with others? Certainly, online dating provides all the convenience of making it quick and easy to meet people.
Gender differences also come into play. While many different types of people go online to date — and they do it for multiple reasons, our study also asked people about what they get up to when they are dating online, in order to understand the potential security implications. The profile is understandably a crucial part of online dating. It allows users to share snippets of their lives. It acts as a window, or a preview of a person, enticing others to reach out to them or find out more.
Is the profile crucial to the success of online dating? But is profile information secure? A Australian study of dating-platform messages revealed that the sexist abuse and harassment does disproportionately affect women , targeted by straight men. Some users also report psychological stress — and even more extreme experiences.
And, generally, one study showed cisgender heterosexual and bisexual men seldom expressed concerns about their personal safety while using dating apps, while women had far higher concern.
Part of the answer lies in the way these platforms are policed, both by the companies who make them as well as larger governmental structures. This means detrimental effects for their targeted users — and changing the situation may be an uphill battle. Tinder, for instance, has introduced machine learning to detect abusive messages and language, and then ask the writer to reconsider the message before sending it. In , Bumble introduced AI to blur specific images and require user consent to view them.
Some platforms have also introduced user verification, in which the platform matches the photos uploaded to a profile with a user-provided selfie wherein the user is photographed doing a highly specific action, so the platform can verify the authenticity of the image.
Many users agree. According to some reports, women receive a higher volume of harassing messages than men Credit: Getty Images. One of the biggest user concerns is sexual violence that can occur when users meet up in person.
A total of 58 people were victims of online dating-related crimes in those four years, some of them sexual. For context, in the area had an overall average of sexual assaults and rapes every month. Many apps offer a page of advice for safe dating. But Leech wants other protections, like giving users alerts about potential risks before they ever begin chatting with strangers.
Is this scaremongering, or is online dating truly putting users in danger? The trouble is that statistics on crimes linked to online dating are sparse. There are some big gaps. Not all the forces collect data specific to dating apps. Not all people who report attacks mention whether an app was involved. Of course, sexual assaults related to online dating may be on the rise just because online dating itself is on the rise. In Britain, attacks related to online dating increased almost six-fold over roughly the same period.
If the US and UK are experiencing the same trends, then online dating is indeed becoming more dangerous. Then again, they may not be experiencing the same trends. However, it puts most of that down to increased reporting and better recording by the police. Better reporting, therefore, might also partly explain why internet dating assaults have increased in the UK. All the same, the NCA noted that the incidents had a lot in common. Experience with online dating varies substantially by age.
Beyond age, there also are striking differences by sexual orientation. There are only modest differences between men and women in their use of dating sites or apps, while white, black or Hispanic adults all are equally likely to say they have ever used these platforms. At the same time, a small share of U. This too follows a pattern similar to that seen in overall use, with adults under the age of 50, those who are LGB or who have higher levels of educational attainment more likely to report finding a spouse or committed partner through these platforms.
Online dating users are more likely to describe their overall experience with using dating sites or apps in positive, rather than negative, terms. For the most part, different demographic groups tend to view their online dating experiences similarly. But there are some notable exceptions. While majorities across various demographic groups are more likely to describe their searches as easy, rather than difficult, there are some differences by gender. There are substantial gender differences in the amount of attention online daters say they received on dating sites or apps.
The survey also asked online daters about their experiences with getting messages from people they were interested in. And while gender differences remain, they are far less pronounced. Online daters widely believe that dishonesty is a pervasive issue on these platforms.
By contrast, online daters are less likely to think harassment or bullying, and privacy violations, such as data breaches or identify theft, are very common occurrences on these platforms. Some experts contend that the open nature of online dating — that is, the fact that many users are strangers to one another — has created a less civil dating environment and therefore makes it difficult to hold people accountable for their behavior.
This survey finds that a notable share of online daters have been subjected to some form of harassment measured in this survey. Fewer online daters say someone via a dating site or app has threatened to physically harm them.
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