Emily Bawden swipes through Tinder in her free time. She said she enjoys meeting new people on Tinder, but urges others to be safe about using it. Kelsie Matheson. Hookups are on the rise in America due to social networking apps like Tinder and modern media influences, according to an American Psychological Association study. Tinder is still trending. The social networking app that launched in now boasts about 50 million users. This free app has become popular among BYU students.
Emily Bawden, a nursing major at BYU, said she thinks Tinder can be a convenient way to meet a variety of guys in a short amount of time. BYU psychology student Maddie Wirthlin said she also hoped to meet new people by downloading the Tinder app, but has recently deleted it. These hookups are defined as a brief, uncommitted intimate encounter anything from kissing to sex between individuals who are not romantic partners or who are not dating each other.
These types of interactions have been on the rise since the s with the invention of cars and movie theaters according to the American Psychological Association study. There was a spike in the s due to the widespread availability of birth control and gender-integrated parties and events.
Kristen Mark, a sex and relationship researcher at the University of Kentucky, said college-aged students tend to view casual hookups as a positive alternative to romantic relationships.
The American Psychological Association study cited a web-based study of 1, undergraduate students who reported a variety of negative consequences of hookups: BYU is one of the most conservative colleges in terms of premarital sex according to College Magazine, but BYU finance student Phillip LeCheminant said the university is not outside the bounds of hookup culture. Tinder and other media influences have increased the amounts of hookups that occur at colleges around the country.
