With popular dating app companies Bumble and Match Group recently announcing cuts to their workforce, is the allure of dating apps starting to fade, or are singles turning away from the online dating culture?
Bumble, the popular Texas-based dating app, announced plans to lay off nearly a third of its global workforce. And just weeks earlier, Match Group, the company behind Tinder and Hinge, said it was cutting 13 per cent of its staff.
So, are single people just over dating apps — or are they falling out of love with the online dating culture?
Calgarian Jenny Wojtula is single and has been on and off dating apps for about three years. She says aside from dating apps, she hasn’t actively searched.
So, what has her experience been like?
“I’d say disappointing,” she told CityNews.
“I did go on a few dates when I had Tinder, for example. I never had Hinge. I think I had Bumble for a little bit. But, almost every single first date that I had, it did feel like the intentions were not the same.”
Some other dating app users say they have had a similar experience online, including Wojtula’s friend Emma M, who said, “You have to be very picky. I feel like hook-up culture is kind of ruining it.”
Dr. Treena Orchard, an anthropologist who studies sexuality at Ontario’s Western University, wrote her memoir “Sticky, Sexy, Sad: Swipe Culture And The Darker Side Of Dating Apps,” on her app experience and the impact it’s having on communication in dating.
She explains that dating apps were a new and exciting way to meet people about a decade ago, when they were at their peak, but they are turning away massively.
“People are kind of bored of dating apps; fewer people are using them just for dating,” Orchard said.
“They are increasingly expensive. And I think a lot of us are really not all that keen on having our data being marketed and sold by the people who are running these swiping platforms.”
People turning away from the apps say they are looking for more in-person, authentic connections, like Jenny Kavanagh.
“That’s really been it. Going on nights out, and we downloaded an app, and it’s called Meetup. So it’s like … social gathering,” she said.
“So, it could be like a hike or a walk or something like that. So we’re meeting people that way as well.”