15th March - How Are Dating Apps Changing Romance?

Event date/time: 6-7pm, 15th March 2022

Event location: The White Bear

Reading: “Don’t Fall in Love on OkCupid” by Benjamin Winterhalter

How do we find love? It seems that dating apps have turned the search for romance into a game, one with mindless scrolling, in-app purchases, and a focus on appearances above all else. In dating apps, algorithms mediate your dating choices, and this has the potential to dramatically change the way we look for love. In this discussion group, we’ll be discussing questions such as:

  • Do dating apps help people find love?
  • How is technology changing romance?
  • Can an algorithm identify your perfect partner?

Further Reading

Jo Sales, Nancy. “Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”.” Vanity Fair (2015). Available online here.

Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas. “The Tinder effect: psychology of dating in the technosexual era.” The Guardian UK (2014). Available online here.

Bruch, Elizabeth E., and M. E. J. Newman. “Aspirational pursuit of mates in online dating markets.” Science Advances 4.8 (2018). Available online here.

Albury, Kath, et al. “Data cultures of mobile dating and hook-up apps: Emerging issues for critical social science research.” Big Data & Society 4.2 (2017) Available online here.