Conclusion

To conclude, our research has explored the usage of Tinder (and other dating apps) among students at the University of Sheffield. The findings we gathered correlated to existing research on online dating and explored similar themes to what we found. We have found that the majority of participants had an overall optimistic perspective of dating apps, stating that they can be used for both short-term casual hook-ups or long-term relationships. Interviewees claimed that Tinder is mainly used for hook-ups which is supported by Christensen (2021, p.432) research surrounding Tinder's app design, but still expressed the potential for individuals meeting a long-term partner and generally seen Tinder as a powerful tool that can bridge the gap between interacting with people online, forming a connection and meeting them in real life. Success in both hook-ups and long-term relationships comes down to compatibility and luck, therefore demonstrating that these perspectives have been constructed upon a diverse range of individual experience, experiences of others and social characteristics that differ between participants. The interviewees also highlighted other uses of dating apps including, entertainment, making friends and for an ego-boost/ attention, which links to research on the positive affects of impression management (Ward, J., 2017; Alexopoulos, Timmermans & McNallie, 2020).

Our findings develop existing sociological research and explores themes and issues that are relative to the University of Sheffield. As we used a small sample, it would be interesting to interview more people across different courses and different social identities of individuals. Further research could expand on the ever-changing usage, experiences, opinions and perceptions of dating apps, especially within different social demographics and groups of people. Other dating apps including Hinge, Bumble and Grindr could be researched to expand knowledge of their usage and be compared with each other (and Tinder). Research could also be done to explore other universities, age-groups or social institutions and their usage of dating apps. Additionally, further research could explore alternative uses of dating apps which include platonic relationships or using to address emotional needs, for example boredom, or research into the impact of social characteristics such as gender, sexuality and race, that can impact an individuals experience while dating.