by Ryan Wasson
It seems as if dating apps are one of the most popular means for the average person to find love nowadays. Well, truth be told, they are. Despite millions of Americans using some form of dating technology, many find it difficult to navigate the anonymous aspect of these apps.
I recently read a scholarly article published by Elena Francesca Corriero and Stephanie Tom Tong of Wayne State University. In this article, they conducted two case studies to understand the goals and concerns of dating app users in conjunction with how multiple users deal with uncertainty on these platforms. Corriero and Tong focused their study on the dating app “Grindr” which they describe as, “an all-male, location-based mobile dating application,” (Corriero and Tong, 2016).
The authors point out that previous research had shown that users of these apps have taken the concept of being uncertain about other users as an advantage when it came to using the app. This, in turn allowed users to feel more optimistic and hopeful and curb any kind of fear users may be having (Corriero and Tong, 2016). This is motivated for a variety of reasons including: relationship objectives, sexual goals, and other specific concerns individual users may have for one reason or another (Corriero and Tong, 2016). I have not used dating apps myself, but within the realm of mobile technology with how easy it is to make a profile whenever and wherever, I can understand how people could feel uncomfortable revealing so much about themselves in a public forum when looking for an intimate relationship between someone else they feel they can trust.
Within the case of Grindr, one of the main issues the authors discuss when it comes to uncertainty online is the issue of users abusing the privilege of being anonymous by misleading other users through presenting themselves in a dishonest way (Corriero and Tong, 2016). Within the realm of mobile technology, this issue, I feel, essentially causes a feedback loop to where if one person is being dishonest, that encourages other, if not all users, to do the same thing. Consequently, I believe the dating app does not fully accomplish its intended goal of finding love for its users due to the users not being entirely honest with one another. I believe that is more on the users than the app itself. Again, though, I do not use dating apps, so there is room for debate as to whether or not this problem rests on the makers of the app, or the users themselves (or maybe both). I can certainly relate, however, to personal friendships I have had in the past, where I felt I knew someone fully only to see a different side of that person after a while.
In the end, this concept of deceiving other users was a key finding for Corriero and Tong as a main player in explaining why Grindr users prefer uncertainty on the platform. As a result, they conclude that much of the misrepresentation, privacy concerns, social judgement, and recognition issues users face likely comes from being preoccupied with how others will perceive them on the platform, rather than external forces outside of the online community itself (Corriero and Tong, 2016). If this is indeed the case, I believe these findings make sense. In addition to my feedback loop point made above, the Grindr community, should it flourish in the future, needs to be honest and authentic with one another in order for users to interact successfully to achieve desired goals for individual users.
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