Swipe More, Connect Less?

A decade ago, fewer than one in four young adults had ever used a dating site or app. By 2023, that figure had risen to more than half — 53% of 18–29 year-olds in the United States. The rise is not confined to younger cohorts: every age group has seen substantial growth. But the gap between the youngest and oldest adults has widened, making dating apps an especially defining feature of how young people navigate relationships today. Hover over the chart to explore each age group’s trajectory.

More users does not mean more alignment. Pew Research Center data shows that while men and women share broadly similar motivations for finding a long-term partner, dating casually, or making friends, a stark gap opens around casual sex: 31% of men cite it as a major reason, compared with just 13% of women. That 18-percentage-point gap means many users are navigating the same platform with fundamentally incompatible intentions. Hover over each dot to see the exact percentage and the gender gap. Click a legend item to isolate one gender.

Mismatched expectations do not play out neutrally. Pew Research Center data shows that women who use dating apps are significantly more likely than men to report negative experiences — from unwanted explicit content and persistent contact after rejection, to feeling physically threatened. More than half of women (53%) say their overall experience on dating apps has been more negative than positive, compared with 37% of men. These are not minor inconveniences: they point to a systematic asymmetry in how the same platform feels to different users. Hover to see each experience type and the gap between genders.

Here is the paradox at the heart of this story. Australian survey research on loneliness — comparing age groups across two time points (2018 and 2022) — shows that young adults consistently report the highest rates of significant loneliness, not the lowest. Older adults, who use dating apps far less, are no more lonely than the generation doing the most swiping. The data suggests loneliness among 18–25 year-olds increased between 2018 and 2022, even as digital social tools became more prevalent. This does not prove that dating apps cause loneliness. But it does suggest that access to more potential connections is not automatically translating into better social wellbeing. Click each age group in the legend to explore. Note: values are approximate estimates derived from published report summaries — see source note below.

This final chart brings the story together. Each bubble represents an age group. The horizontal axis shows how many people in that group use dating apps (access). The vertical axis shows how lonely they are (wellbeing outcome). The bubble size represents the gender gap in casual-sex motivation — a proxy for expectation mismatch on the platform. The pattern is striking: the age group with the highest app use (18–29 year-olds) also has the highest loneliness and the largest motivation mismatch. Older adults, who use dating apps less, show lower loneliness and smaller mismatches. Hover over each bubble for details.