Exploring The Impact of Social Dating Applications on Relationships During the Covid-19 Pandemic Among Young Adults
4.3 RQ1: What is the impact of dating applications on relationships among young adults?
4.4.1 Intention
As the usage rate of social dating applications has significantly increased ever since the pandemic struck, individuals may use social dating applications to gratify different needs. Based on the responses, majority of the informants (T1, B1, B2 & B3) stated that the intention of Malaysian young adults to use social dating applications during the pandemic is to kill boredom.
Furthermore, three informants (B1, B2 & B3) disclosed that individuals intend to seek for friendship during the pandemic through social dating applications. Based on the elaborations provided by B1 and B2, some individuals were unemployed and social isolation had led to loneliness as well as unhealthy mental state. Therefore, going on social dating application became the only way to seek for social interaction.
So, like people who want different ones, right, so they would want to search for maybe something casual. Because the pandemic is very stressful for a lot of people. They are basically unemployed and they need someone to talk to that they can kind of confide into the person.(B1 – 27/1/22)
From the pandemic itself right people use it all the time. During the pandemic there is a huge change in the number of people who uses this dating app and I can like see some of my friends using them as well throughout the pandemic. Because during the pandemic everybody was at home and it somewhat put a stop to your social engagement or if people
105 who wants to look for a partner or whatever, that is the only way to put yourself out there and discovering new people, even though the new people is not for dating purposes. (B2 – 17/2/22)
On the other hand, T2 and T3’s perspectives are not similar with the majority. They stated that the intention of Malaysian young adults to use social dating applications is to look for affiliated relationship and casual relationship. Moreover, T3 mentioned that individuals tend to realise their needs in a relationship as they are approaching adulthood. Hence, the informant was curious about it and wanted to explore more by using social dating applications. Besides, the informants were questioned regarding their own intention to use the social dating applications during the pandemic.
Based on the responses, three informants (T1, T2 & B2) stated that they used social dating applications to meet new friends and kill their boredom. As people were not encouraged to have physical meet ups with their friends during the pandemic, individuals turn to social dating applications to fulfill their needs for social interaction. T2 and B2 mentioned that they did not purposely go on social dating applications to find a romantic partner, but to seek for some sort of human interaction.
Boredom. I did not go on Tinder to find a girlfriend. I go on Tinder because I am bored. I talk to a few people there and become friends. I have a lot of very good friends who use dating apps. My intention was not to get into a relationship, but just to know people. The circle of friends that I have was just close friends and they are pretty far from me. I am from Ipoh. So, the only friends I have are from college. Most of them are my desk mates.
(T2 – 27/1/22)
106 I was looking for some sort of human interaction. When I was using all these dating apps was the purely experimental, like I wanted to know how it works. And you know, what would happen from there, but I didn't really have like, high hopes for relationship or marriage or whatever. It was just was to try out. (B2 – 17/2/22)
However, the remaining three informants (T3, B1 & B3) stated that they intend to find a romantic partner through social dating application. Unlike T2 and B2, B3 mentioned that his first intention to use social dating applications is to find a girlfriend during the pandemic. Furthermore, B1 stated that he was looking for a very serious relationship and wish to get married as soon as possible. Therefore, he used Baituljannah and he believed that the users in Baituljannah are looking for serious relationship too.
I was looking for a very serious relationship. Because I do want to get married at the end of the day. And I am already 36 and I do not have much time. And I believe that this app, is for people who want to get serious. (B1 – 27/1/22)
My first intention was to find a girlfriend because it was during the MCO period, and lonely.
(B3 – 12/3/22)
As single users are not the only group of consumers who intend to explore social dating applications, there are people who still go on social dating applications even though they are in a committed relationship (Hobbs et al., 2017 and Weiser et al., 2018). To explore this issue, the informants were asked if they are in a relationship, will they still go on to social dating applications.
Based on the responses, majority of the informants (T1, T2, T3 & B2) stated that they will not
107 continue to use it when they are in a relationship. T1 and T3 mentioned that their partner will feel insecure if they continue to talk to random people on social dating applications. Hence, deleting everything on the existing social dating application account is a sign of respect towards their partner and is an important move to build trust in the relationship.
On the other hand, two informants (B1 & B3) who used Baituljannah stated that they will still go on social dating applications as their religion allows them to have a polygamy relationship.
Polygamy refers to a type of relationship that typically involves a person marrying more than one partner. According to the elaboration provided by B1, men are allowed to have three wives in Islam and are responsible to ensure that all wives are treated equally. Therefore, B1 and B3 did not denied the possibility that they might go on to social dating application in the future, even though they are in a relationship.
Yes. Because you see, because my religion, they actually practice polygamy. And because of that, I am allowed to have three more wives. Because in Islam, right, my role as a provider, is to actually ensure that the all of my wives are treated equally in terms of financially, emotionally and their wellness in general. (B1 – 27/1/22)
No, I will stop using it. I didn’t use both Tinder and Baituljannah anymore because I want to fully focus on my girlfriend. However it might happenes in the future, it depend on what situation. It is because if the man allows to do so (the wife agrees) and maybe if they feel bored towards their wife, then it could happen. (B3 – 12/3/22)
108 4.4.2 Dating Behaviour in New Normal
In times of crisis especially during the pandemic, social dating applications can be effective tools for developing relationships. Due to the implementation of Movement Control Order during the pandemic, individuals were encouraged to avoid physical contact and stay at home. As a result, the usage rate of social dating applications has significantly increased in that particular time. Based on the responses, majority of the informants (T1, T2, T3, B1 & B3) stated that they used social dating application more frequently than usual during the pandemic. T1 and T2 mentioned that they used it daily because they are bored and want to have some social interactions with the people.
during the pandemic.
Everyday maybe? Because during pandemic time, I had a couple of people that I was talking to on Tinder. So, I just talked to them during pandemic even though it was kind of boring, because there was not much to talk about. (T1 – 26/1/22)
During the pandemic, I think I often use the dating apps. Sometimes, I used it daily;
sometimes, there are two-day gaps in between. (T2 – 27/1/22)
On the other hand, B2 used social dating applications twice or thrice a week, which is not consider as “frequently”. As a result, the researchers concluded that most of the informants used social dating application more frequently than usual during the pandemic. Due to self-isolation and living in a restricted environment with few things to keep them occupied, all the informants said that their usage of social dating applications increased during the pandemic because they were bored and needed some human interactions to satisfy their need for meaningful experiences. Based
109 on the responses from all the informants, boredom does not appear to deter them from engaging in seemingly worthless activities, but rather encourages them to take on more and more, especially by using social dating applications for some human interactions during the pandemic. T2 even stated that majority of users’ bio on social dating applications have labelled themselves as bored and in need of human engagement. In additions, although it was to kill the boredom during the pandemic period, T3 did express an additional statement which the informant was hoping for some relationships to happen regardless it is friendships or romantic relationships.
It was just something to pass the time from meeting people because I enjoyed meeting people when I was bored. (T1 – 26/1/22)
From their bio, they said that they are here because of the pandemic and wanted to kill their boredom. Literally, everyone you meet in the application during the pandemic has the same caption. (T2 – 27/1/22)
I’m bored and I need affection. (T3 – 10/2/22)
So, that time I felt like I need some sort of a human communication, human interaction and that is one of the platforms that had helped me at that point. (B2 – 17/2/22)
Furthermore, the researchers also discovered that majority of the informants (T2, T3, B2
& B3) prefer to find a partner physically rather than through social dating applications. Despite having good features and interface settings on the social dating applications, these four informants stated that it is better to get to know a person in real life as they can physically see the person’s real appearance and characteristics compared to social dating applications such as Tinder where
110 users can garnish their profile bio and fake profile picture. Even though Baituljannah is stricter in terms of the interface settings where users are required to provide the real personal information and supervised by third party, B2 and B3 still prefer finding partner in real life. Besides, B3 mentioned that online dating will become an ongoing trend even after the pandemic. In the end, social dating applications are definitely not the first choice for these four informants to choose their potential partners. However, T3 would use social dating applications to find a partner if there are certain circumstances happened.
Using dating applications during the pandemic is not really a big deal. However, obviously, you just cannot date online. From my point of view, if I don’t see you, you don’t exist. Trust is the only key here. You have to trust the person there. The way I used to differentiate real or fake people from dating applications is to communicate with them using FaceTime. If they get on to FaceTime, they are real, you can go with it. If you can get to know them, it is better. Anyway, do not have high hopes until you meet the person in real life. (T2 – 27/1/22)
If I have the chance it’s definitely physically because I get to know in person, I mean like easier, but if I don’t have the chance to get into relationship with someone in real life then I will just use Tinder or any other social dating applications. (T3 – 10/2/22)
On the other hand, the remaining two informants (T1 & B1) stated that it is normal for them to find a romantic partner through social dating applications during the pandemic. Moreover,
111 T1 mentioned that social dating applications boost his chances to find a romantic partner and will consider going back on social dating applications if he breaks up with the current girlfriend.