Tinder users aren’t having more sex: Study

Mobile dating apps like Tinder and Bumble are touted as the go-to place for hook-ups, but new research suggests that users don’t have sex with more partners because of the apps — it’s just another venue to find romance.

In a survey of over 600 university students in Norway, researchers found that those who used the “picture-based mobile dating apps,” were the same type of person who would likely be dating by other means. The use of the apps — where users post photos and write short descriptions of themselves — are just a change in setting for people to meet others.

“Apps have become the new public arena for dating. But to a large extent, the people using them are the same ones you find dating other ways,” Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, professor at the Norwegian University Of Science And Technology and co-author of the study, said in a statement.

The research was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences last week.

While personality and motivation for using these apps were similar across gender and age (the respondents were between 19 and 29 years old), researchers observed differences between men and women in how they engage with the technology.

“Women are more discerning. Men are more eager. This has clear evolutionary reasons,” Mr. Kennair said. “Women have more to lose by engaging with low-quality sexual partners than men do. That’s why men swipe right more often than women do.”

Many of these apps operate the same way. The user is presented with a few select photos and personal details about another person and can swipe the photo to the right to indicate interest or swipe left to reject. If that person also swipes right on the user’s profile, the app allows the two to communicate through text message.

Men approaching these apps are more “efficient,” and can scan a number of profiles in less time and make swift decisions to swipe right or left, and with a match, will decide quickly if they want to meet the other person or not.

Women, however, spend more time analyzing profiles and considering each potential partner before deciding to accept or reject, the researchers said.

Boredom and as a distraction are the top reasons both men and women use the apps. Yet, while men are more likely to seek out casual sex or a long-term relationship, women are instead looking for confirmation they’re attractive.