Conclusion

In conclusion, dating apps have created a unique digital culture that has shaped how we cultivate desire in a societal setting. Though dating apps may differ in user interfaces and how they direct users to design their own accounts, they all encourage quick decision making and emphasize first encounters with the profiles. Overall dating apps have enhanced the way that we are able to communicate to those we are interested in and how we use the profiles to create desire. It is clear that although dating apps allow access to a larger variety of people and gender identities, the user interfaces favor the more common heterosexual identifying individual and even favor females who are more rare on these dating apps. The research revealed that even though these apps may be more frustrating to those who do not identify as heterosexual or those with disabilities who may have trouble with the swipe method that is a big feature of many of these apps, having a platform in which they can create a profile that represents them is empowering. As technology grows increasingly important in our society and, in times of a pandemic, may become the more normalized way of interaction, technology will have to adapt and innovate to become more encompassing to those with other gender identities or disabilities. Researching how technical interactivity can affect social interactivity outlines how intimacy can be formed between humans and can drive these changes to be made so that those with different identities have an equal probability of being matched with someone they find desirable. Specifically as part of a society that moves us more into the age of fluidity, user interfaces must also project to accomodate people of many identities in order to give users a desirable experience in terms of creating a profile in which they continue to feel empowered by expressing their desires, but also feel like the app was constructed with them in mind. Studying how these dating apps represent different genders or gender identities can help determine how user interfaces can be changed in order to better represent the expression of gender in culture later.