The teaching plan of the practical lesson №1

Online dating apps

As stated before dating websites are basically the modern variant of personal ads. With the introduction of the internet in the 1990’s more and more people started placing their personal ads on websites instead of in newspapers and magazines. Dating agencies created websites to which people could subscribe (usually for a membership fee) to get suggestions on possible partners based on certain algorithms and the extensive questionnaires they had to fill in. With the introduction of smartphones and their applications (apps) online dating became even easier, and more importantly, more socially accepted. A research from 2015 by the BBC showed that the dating app Tinder was the 10th most popular lifestyle app in Canada that year and the 15th most popular one in the US.  

That same research showed that Badoo and Tinder are the most popular dating apps worldwide, Badoo being number one in 21 countries and Tinder in 18. So because of technology something that used to be seen as something that was a bit ‘shady’ or a desperate last resort, became something socially accepted and common behaviour. 

Tinder and Badoo are easily accessible apps and can be used by anyone, no matter your gender, age or sexual preferences, but there is more to find in the world of dating apps than just Tinder and Badoo. There are dating apps that focus on smaller communities, trying to connect people on certain common values or interests, for instance marginalised groups like homosexuals, ethnic minorities, but also elite groups, millionaires or extremely successful businessmen and -women. In deciding which dating app to subscribe to, users choose which part of their identity they want to emphasise in their dating life. Dating apps have created a new online culture, making people do things they have never done before, like creating a number of online personas, all different depending on the medium they are using.

The amount of and diversity in dating apps has expanded immensely over the last few years. There are for instance dating sites you can only subscribe to if you have attained a certain educational level, or look a certain way.