We totally understand if you’re ready for a Tinder timeout, a Bumble break, or a Hinge hiatus. Dating app burnout is real.
There’s no shortage of complaints these days about the challenges of dating apps. It’s tempting to assume that the IRL grass is greener, but let’s not lose sight of the huge advantages of online dating.
While meeting someone organically still has its charm, dating apps offer a unique set of advantages that can lead to more successful dates and, ultimately, more fulfilling relationships. Let’s explore why swiping right might be your best move.
Table of Contents
1. You gain more intel about them.
2. You get to show yourself at your best.
3. You get a shot with people you wouldn’t normally meet.
4. TL;DR
#1. You gain more intel about them.
Have you ever experienced an amazing first date, only to realize later that the person wasn’t who you thought they were? It’s a bummer!
Dating apps offer a valuable opportunity to gather intel before the first date. By checking out a user’s profile, photos, and even social media (if linked), you can get a sense of their personality, interests, and lifestyle. You have a decent range of intro questions already answered for you, like age, hobbies, what they’re looking for, where they live, etc. That’s already more intel than you’d have IRL.
Most apps allow you to filter by age and distance, adding more filter options for premium-tier subscriptions, such as: educational background, religion, relationship type, political affiliation, family goals, drinking and drug use.
This addresses one of the biggest frustrations with IRL dating: the lack of control and the sheer amount of guesswork involved.
Are they single? Are they looking to date? Are they attracted to you? Do they have a secret marriage in Italy with three kids? You know, the usual asks.
Plus, on the apps, you know that everyone you encounter wants to connect in some way, shape or form and should be single.
#2. You get to show yourself at your best.
When it comes to online dating, attractiveness often emerges from showcasing people at their best. While you could attempt to impress by bench-pressing a giant piece of wood or model bikinis on a date, it would be a bit weird, to say the least.
Most dating apps provide 5-9 photo slots, allowing you to showcase different sides of your personality, hobbies, moods, and styles. For example, you can use one photo to show your adventurous side with a hiking snapshot, another to display your social side with friends, and another for a more relaxed look at home being cozy. This variety helps potential matches get a well-rounded view of you, making your profile more engaging and authentic.
For men, this might mean demonstrating competence and worldliness through activities like rock climbing, cooking, painting, taking an exotic vacation, chopping wood, etc. These are sides of oneself that are hard to convey in a face-to-face meeting.
For women, in-the-moment swimsuit photos offer a glimpse of their physical attributes without needing to dress provocatively on a date. This way, the physical aspect is already acknowledged, allowing the date to focus on other qualities.
Consider a scenario where your profile features you in well-fitted clothes, but you arrive at the casual coffee date in jeans and a t-shirt. This discrepancy might not align with your date’s expectations. However, knowing you can dress up stylishly and that the outfit in your picture flatters you, they’ll likely attribute any difference to a less attractive outfit choice rather than a lack of attractiveness overall.
Now, we’re not saying you have to toss up a bikini pic or a photo of yourself shirtless chopping wood, but something that shows off a bit of what you’re working with will help– still, pass it through a dating photo test to make sure you still come across as trustworthy.
The full picture is more than one photo.
You could portray yourself as a worldly person merely by recounting a trip to Japan, but a picture of you in Japan speaks volumes more. In the limited time of a date, you can’t possibly reveal all the attractive facets of your personality. However, if your profile highlights these experiences, your date will perceive you as more interesting.
In essence, your dating profile serves as a highlight reel, showcasing your best sides and creating a narrative that makes you more appealing and interesting to potential matches. By providing this context, you allow your date to see beyond the immediate interaction and appreciate the multifaceted person you are.
#3. You get a shot with people you wouldn’t normally meet.
Sometimes, your target dating demographic isn’t found where you hang out.
But with dating apps, you’re granted a personal VIP pass, allowing you to connect with a whole new realm of people you might never meet in real life.
Say you’re introverted and looking for a fellow homebody; it’ll be a challenge to find them out in the wild. Or maybe you’re a sporty person, but your ideal partner is an artsy type. With dating apps, you can match with someone who paints without having to sign up for a class and feel out of place.
Plus, if you’re uncomfortable in that environment, it might come off as a lack of confidence when, in reality, you’ve just never tried this skill/hobby before. Through the apps, you simply skip over this experience, find your match, and don’t need to feel awkward.
TL;DR: Dating apps increase your opportunity to connect with someone who matches your vibe.
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll meet multiple people in one night who fit your criteria, but on dating apps, there’s more time and a higher concentration of singles to form connections with.
And sure, we’d all love that romantic movie first encounter, the chance meetup on a hike, the spark in a bookstore. But let’s be real: Meeting someone “organically” doesn’t guarantee a fairy tale ending. Remember, just because you met someone while dodging gorillas in Guatemala doesn’t mean they won’t turn out to be an IRL left swipe in the end.
Don’t let those rom-com moments fool you or keep you stuck in a relationship just because of a cool origin story. Your person is out there, and they might just be a swipe away!
