If there was ever a Tinder expert, Elisabeth Timmermans is it. A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Rotterdam, this Limburg native has surveyed more than 3, people about their online dating experiences since embarking on her PhD in Has Tinder made us pickier?
Is it true that Tinder is secretly sabotaging us? Why do you feel like a trash human being when you swipe left? We sat down with Dr Timmermans to find out. So many people I know seem to have a love-hate relationship with Tinder β deleting the app every few months and then giving it another go. On the one hand, Tinder gives you access to an incredibly large amount of single people.
On the other hand a platform like Tinder also has a lot of users who might not be ready to commit. And when you meet someone like that through the app, the first few days can be great but they tend to be followed by a lot of disappointment. Wait, what? Are you saying Tinder especially draws people with a fear of commitment? No, not at all. Look, Tinder allows you to date many more people over a short period of time than traditional dating.
But that also increases the chance that there will be people with a fear of commitment in the pool of people you are dating. So these apps increase your dating options but they also increase your chances of getting hurt. Online dating often also comes with a level of pressure. And people are very aware that there are plenty of fish in the sea. Tinder has admitted to giving every user a so-called ELO score based on their attractiveness.
The more attractive they are, the higher their PLO score. But there is one clear indicator of the pervasiveness of Tinder. Based on my research, people appear to use Tinder for 13 distinct reasons. The number-one reason respondents cited to use Tinder was for entertainment. The second most common reason was curiosity.
