When a relationship hits a rough patch, the knowledge that there are countless potential mates out there is not just consoling. A s someone who has written about online dating , I often receive emails from people with stories to tell.
While these run the gamut β from hilarious accounts of bad dates to woeful laments about the havoc technology has wreaked on modern love β the overwhelming majority come from married people who have found out their spouses are cheating on them with the use of dating apps.
These people are usually really upset, and want to vent. At length. Sometimes, they have actually met their spouses online. Researchers surveyed American adults, who filled out questionnaires about the state of their unions.
Which sounds to me like a stretch. A more likely, even obvious answer, in my view, is that people who meet on dating apps meet in an atmosphere of endless choice. Marriages that start on dating apps are probably also less satisfying because dating apps are designed to be addictive. Who can stay focused on one person when the indelible itch of the dating app is always waiting to be scratched?
A long time ago, when I was an idiot, I used to smoke. In the same way, dating app users experience the desire to go back on the app long after they have come off it. Dating apps also facilitate cheating in a way that was just never possible before. Once upon a time, a married person had to put some thought into how to be unfaithful. Cheating required some machinations. But perhaps those marriages that start on dating apps are lower quality overall because people in these relationships never feel they know for sure if they can trust their spouse.
