Dating applications are becoming increasingly popular in our culture, particularly among young people. But do we truly understand how these applications affect us? Dating applications, for the most part, work on the identical concepts as gambling machines. Dopamine stimulates our brains more than the completion of the reward itself when we perform a repeated, mechanical activity. Once you get a matching or a notification, the applications even provide auditory notifications. This is operational conditioning (behavioral science): a sort of contextual learning experience in which the desire to execute a specific action is adjusted by positive or negative reinforcement.

In personal relationships, projection and idealization are perhaps the most harmful phenomena. Their strength stems from our incapacity to recognize truth. When we interact with others, we are always projecting, which is a psychological technique that tries to manipulate internally and externally reality to shield the subject from emotions of worry or depletion of our value. Projection is seen as an instinctual defense since it alters or overlooks reality for us to operate and maintain our ego. The ego perceives that the subject has an inherent fault or a self-motivation that is ethically undesirable, yet is pressing the subject to become mindful.

Dating apps have disrupted the natural processes that drive someone to appreciate an effort and engagement in a healthy connection. And this isn’t about poly- vs. mono- partnerships; both have their advantages. People advocate for polyamorous relationships because monogamy is usual and can be suffocating and suffocating to people who are ‘stuck’ in dead-end relationships. However, polyamory may be as damaging as it is joyful and exhilarating.

Shifting from one partnership to the next, employing the fresh energy that comes with moving on from the previous one, can result in unhappiness. Returning to the duality of choice, possessing a plethora of alternatives may be both thrilling and fulfilling. However, this is deceptive, and it results in an unpleasant bonding and relationship experience. In the end, users decide whether or not to use these applications. These programs bear no responsibility. However, in a culture where narratives give us misleading representations of opportunity, pushed by an economy that simply desires to be uncomfortable and waste money, it is critical to comprehend what the true possibilities are.