Young people who turn to dating apps for love hunt still feel lonely, while the dating platforms capitalize this loneliness.
By Suan Yeon
University student Sei Suguro receives 300 likes on dating app Bumble a day, but she still feels lonely.
“I use the dating app when I feel lonely or bored. I have only really liked one person whom I found via dating apps despite having been using them for three years. We met up in real life but we lost touch,” the 23-year-old student says.
“I feel great when a lot of people like my profile. But my self-esteem hits low when these people don’t want to see me again after meeting me in person once. Despite all these likes for my profile in the cyberworld, I still feel lonely,” the Japanese student says.
The pharmacy major student, who wants to find a boyfriend using dating apps, says most people on dating apps are not serious about fostering relationships.
“I don’t trust people from dating apps. At this point, I am not even hoping for a serious relationship anymore,” the Japanese student adds.
Graduate student Ariel Migliorini, who has been on the apps for 5 years, has already met hundreds of people. Sometimes the experienced user goes on dates almost every day with different strangers. But none of them has successfully developed into a serious relationship.
“I have many dates. In Brazil, people use dating apps for one night stands. It is easier to find people in Brazil because people are more open-minded and direct with their intentions than in Hong Kong,” he says.
“The reality is that finding people from the apps is more convenient especially if I am craving some sort of immediate affection. Everyone wants to be loved and everyone wants to fall in love,” the Brazilian student adds.
The 22-year-old student is now taking a break from the apps, but has not deleted them. He has downloaded four different kinds of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble in the last five years.
A 2025 market report from Statista, an online platform specialising in data gathering and visualisation, points out that the number of dating app users in China reached 82.8 million in 2024. The report adds that in Hong Kong, the number of app users is projected to reach nearly 500,000 by 2029, with the majority aged between 18 and 34.
A 2024 Forbes Health Survey of 1,000 Americans found that more than three-quarters of Gen Z respondents felt burnt out using dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. According to the survey, respondents of all ages could not find a good connection with someone. They spend an average of an hour on these apps every day.
A UK cohort study of 1,632 young adults, published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, discovered 12% of them had used dating apps. Meanwhile, the group reported a significantly higher sense of loneliness than non-dating app users.
Adjunct Associate Professor Lik Sam Chan of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong points out that this cycle of hope and disappointment is embedded in the design and business model of the dating app platforms.
“We really need to represent ourselves nicely when we are on the apps… pick the best pictures and come up with the best opening lines. This sets a gap between the curated online persona and real-life interaction. The discrepancy makes us feel bad about ourselves. If we lack emotional connection from our everyday lives, we feel lonely, and we look for something online,” Chan says.
The academic specialising in researching digital media highlights that the core of the issue lies within marketing promises that do not match reality.
“Countless dating apps, hookup apps, or marriage platforms’ marketing slogans promise unlimited possibilities, but it doesn’t mean that the choices are within our leagues,” he says.
“It’s a straightforward capitalization of loneliness. Their business models thrive because of our loneliness and desire for connection, as they want to attract as many users as possible,” he adds.
He suggests that platforms need to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.
“It’s like you’re walking into a buffet and realize at one point that there are too many options and you ask yourself ‘what do I actually want?’. Because the utopia these apps create with theoretically unlimited options leads to discrepancy. They should have more specific features for specific audiences,” he says.
Edited by Yilie Lo
Sub-edited by Alexia Leung
