Well folks, the science is officially out on online dating, with a new study outlining how it’s not looking too romantic for all us (un)lucky in love right-swipers.
That’s according to an international team of researchers who recently found that those who meet their partners online are less happy in love than those who meet in the rare and rumoured-about space known as ‘real life’.
The study was led by Dr Marta Kowal of the University of Wrocław and co-authored by Australian National University PhD student Adam Bode.
To help them in their quest to answer the age-old question of whether Tinder can extend beyond a root, the researchers gathered data from over 6,000 hopeless romantics across 50 countries.
Of that group, 16 per cent had met online — but their honeymoon periods didn’t last long.
“Participants who met their partners online reported lower relationship satisfaction and intensity of experienced love”, Bode said of the findings (per Dazed).
It’s a huge L for those of us (me) who treat Hinge as if it were Romeo and Juliet, with the study finding online meet-cutes result in “lower levels of intimacy, passion and commitment compared to those who met offline”, Bode added.
As for the reason behind these less successful digital love stories, the study said IRL daters tend to be more “homogamous”, which is not some new Grindr term, but a fancy scientific word for having more in common, especially in terms of social or educational backgrounds.
Homogamous couples, per the study, tend to be better because similar backgrounds “positively influence relationship quality by fostering greater social support and acceptance, shared life experiences, and alignment in values and worldviews”, Bode said.
On the flip side, internet dating seems to promise a world of limitless matches (who are too-often posing with a fish they just caught), but this quality can lead to “choice overload”.
It’s why there’s about three dozen matches waiting for my reply as we speak (sorry, fishermen!), but it’s not just the limitless dating pool that diminishes the quality of online love stories.
In the least shocking aspect of the study, Bode said online dating has in recent years “shift[ed] toward short-term, less committed relationships”, with users increasingly pursuing casual flings which in turn “contribute to lower relationship quality”.
So you’re saying that one-night stand was not the LOML? Interesting.
Anyway, the study makes one thing clear: I gotta join a local pottery class or run club or serendipitously spill a coffee in order to meet my future partner IRL, even though I loathe pottery and running.
Any potential lovers can henceforth find me on the local jogging route with a misshapen mug in hand.
Lead image: Searchlight Pictures
The post Study Shows Couples Who Meet Online Have Less Of A Chance Than Those Who Meet IRL appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
