I started the article with an incident at the beginning. A story that could have been a love story or a love story. But instead, the story is of a terrible separation. In the middle of 2022, the world witnessed the terrible turn of a love affair. In this story, each was like a couple in love, a woman (Shraddha Walker) and a man (Aaftap Poonawala). Shraddha was Hindu by religion and Abtab was Muslim by religion. Due to the fact that their families disapproved of the love affair between two different religious couples, the two birds left Mumbai and settled in Delhi. Begin their new journey. So far everything was going well. But suddenly it is known that Shraddha was killed by Aftab. After the murder, Abtab cut Shraddha's body into several pieces and kept it in the fridge at home. After that, every night for several days, pieces of dismembered corpses were dumped in the surrounding forest. Later, after being arrested by the police, he confessed to the murder and this cruel activity on the dead body.

 

 

This incident of Shraddha-Aftab left a response among all. Many thought that Shraddha may have lost her life in this way due to religious discrimination. But unbeknownst to all, there was a dating app at the center of all these incidents. Through this app, Aftab got into a relationship with another woman. Incidentally, Shraddha and Aftab's love affair happened on this same dating app.

Who would have thought a little dating app would take over a person's life? Not only the incident of Shraddha-Aftab, but such terrible accidents are also happening all over the world, which is behind the dating app. Here comes the dark side of dating apps.

The dark side of dating apps

A dating app that, like other social media apps, is popular for finding friends or partners. But this type of dating app is not the popularity that it has got nowadays. In the mid-90s, there was a boom in dating websites. At that time websites like Match.com, Kiss.com, etc. were quite popular. For people who were reluctant to go straight to dating, such mediums (dating websites) helped establish the foundation of a relationship. In the initial phase, meeting face to face after deepening the relationship through chatting at home. Then make long and deep relationships with each other.

Initially, these dating apps show profiles of the opposite sex based on the user's answers to some simple questions like – taste, clothing style, preferred color, etc. In this case, Eharmony was a very popular social media (dating) platform. However, Tinder has revolutionized the history of dating apps. Tinder, released to the global market in 2012, immediately changed the entire concept of dating apps. The method of finding friends by swiping right and left is very popular in this app. But behind all these comes a terrible dark side of dating apps which is known as the dark side of dating apps.

All these dating apps have sophisticated algorithms to retain customers. Which is used by all these app makers to keep the customers locked in their apps. They are constantly trying to attract customers with strange methods or features. Some are trying to attract customers by making short-length videos like TalkTalk, and Snapchat apps. An example of which is the Muzz dating app. Again, some apps are displaying people as products. The popular dating app Bumble is especially attractive to men because of its high number of girls. Tinder's customer attraction algorithm outperforms all dating apps. Crossing all boundaries, the app has changed the concept of online dating. The controversy about the Hot-Not feature created by them has not decreased.

 

The social side effects of dating apps

We have never tried to know what kind of impact these dating apps have had on society. Let's take a look at the impact this has had on our modern society.

Let's start with the year 2020, a survey by Pew Research Center reveals a piece of unexpected information. The survey found that nearly 60% of American women between the ages of 18 and 34 have been the subject of a rude comment from a stranger on a dating app at some point in their lives. In addition, 57% of women have encountered sexually perverted men.

According to Australian Institute of Criminology statistics, three-quarters of dating app users have been sexually harassed in some way and a third of people have been sexually assaulted while on a date.

The picture is similar not only in the countries of the Western world but also in the eastern Indian subcontinent. Earlier, for the marriage of the children, their parents fixed the relationship. At that time there was a saying that marriage was between two families instead of boys and girls. However, this parental responsibility is currently being shifted from parents to children thanks to matrimonial websites. They are the ones who have checked and started the work of finding a life partner. In this case, dating apps are working as a boon to them. But this blessing is quickly recognized as a curse. These dating apps are full of various types of sex rackets, that trick users by showing sexual stimulation and then demand huge money. Sometimes sending offensive messages, or secretly following. Now this is all about the dark side of dating apps.

 

Conclusion

Currently, the use of dating apps is increasing in India as well as in Europe and America. In addition to international dating apps, many domestic companies have come down to capture the market. There are many advantages of dating apps such as choosing your own life partner or taking less time to find the right person. But the technology that was created to find new relationships is engulfing our youth like the darkness beneath the peninsula. Real examples of this are lovers like Shraddha-Aftab. In fact, these dating apps today have made people into commodities in the eyes of others. Which is judged by validation like Hot-Not.

Currently, various dating app companies are seen to be adopting policies such as profile verification, blurring objectionable photos using artificial intelligence, or taking legal action against suspicious accounts. It has also introduced profile verification using mobile numbers, and government identity cards. But after all this, the question remains, are we really free from the curse of dating apps?