The cultural impact of ever-multiplying dating sites

A far cry from their humble beginnings, dating sites come in all shapes and colours now, with nearly 8,000 counted as of 2018. With that number rapidly growing by the day, one begins to wonder how they’re affecting society as a whole. With such giants as Tinder dictating the playing field, as well as thousand smaller names to cater to more niche interests, it stands to reason that the face of dating and relationships in human societies has forever been changed.

The dating process is much more streamlined

People have taken this as both a good and a bad thing, but one thing’s for certain: the time spent getting to know a person is much less now compared to before, with personal information readily available on profile pages. Although more than half of all people on dating sites have been found to lie on their profiles, there are multiple tools to combat such dishonesty. Overall, the “getting to know” process has been made much more time-efficient, giving daters much more liberty in other aspects, such as deciding the pace at which they continue dating.

Unparalleled degree of choice

Thanks to the ever-growing number of dating sites, people no longer feel alone in their own worlds, afraid that they’ll never find a like-minded person to date. Whether it’s people of a certain race or kink looking for similar people, there’s a dating site that exists to cater to their niche. Specialised dating sites and apps are popping up even for the most obscure of interests and persuasions, from cougar-hunters to fetishists, to those who want a quick hook up. Before checking such niche sites, however, it’s best to check with dating site reviewers, such as DatingPilot, to verify their best quality.

Relationships are getting stronger

A positive link between the closeness of ties in a relationship and online dating had been solidly established, according to a study by Emerging Technology from the arXiv. This was a secondary finding to a model geared towards predicting the tendency of interracial relationships to form, which was highly enabled by online dating. Both effects are due to the fact that partners are free to decide their own pace online, and establish closer bonds of shared interests, easily divulged by their dating profiles and by being in certain niche sites. The study states that it’s likely due to the strength of such bonds, and the increased freedom to go at the pace that they want, that couples that began online enjoy lower rates of breakup than those that meet traditionally.

Even with its share of challenges, the prevalence of dating sites in our society has proven to be a net positive. Eliminating all the fuss that is used to complicate traditional dating has led to an overall more enjoyable experience and stronger bonds between couples.