Some sites go so far as to remove faces from the equation altogether. 8 million daily users, frequently offers up a roll call of headless torsos. Your next date could be 10 feet away, standing in the next line at the grocery store, or 50 feet away in the shop (or hotel) around the corner, and you’d never recognize them. On the one hand, experts say, such sites encourage singles to take care of themselves physically. On the other, they subject users to more of an objectifying experience than a romantic one. “There’s a fine line between what constitutes flirting and quickly finding a short-term sexual partner,” Hall says.
Mobile dating revenue is expected to nearly double over the next several years, although it still makes up just 26% of total (online and offline) dating industry. Mobile dating on Match’s and OkCupid’s apps account for over half of all users. In the meantime, some sites realize that there’s fatigue among members. The app does away with most of the complex matchmaking by encouraging people to trust in serendipity and take a chance on a first date.
Many online daters are voyeurs and just “pick and click” – that is, browse and chat. The endless supply of fresh faces, and the modern worker’s lack of leisure time, combine to make it difficult for people to ever actually go out on a date, says Hall, of the University of Kansas. Spending a lot of time to meet Mr. or Ms. Right “decreases your chance of ever doing so,” he says. Answering questions and looking at prospects for hour upon hour, he adds, “is not conducive to forming a good match, and it’s not exactly a productive use of your time.”
Other studies point out their success rates: Around one-third of American marriages now begin online. And those marriages are less likely to break down and are associated with slightly higher marital satisfaction rates than those of couples who met offline, according to a 2013 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Continue reading Location-based mobile dating site Grindr, for instance, which has 1