Study Links Bad Dating App Experiences to Hormonal Disruption

A new joint study from eHarmony and the Imperial College of Business has shed light on the physiological toll of dating apps, revealing that frequent swiping and matching may be allegedly doing more than just affecting users’ love lives. According to the research, dating app usage is directly linked to fluctuations in key hormones like dopamine, cortisol, and testosterone – producing effects similar to those seen in gambling addiction.

Researchers coined this phenomenon the “dating app effect,” which refers to the way these platforms activate the brain’s reward system. Hormone health expert Mike Kocsis explains that the process follows a three-stage cycle – anticipation, perception, and reward delivery – each triggering spikes in dopamine. These spikes mirror the neurological feedback loop seen in slot machines, where users are driven by unpredictable “wins” in the form of matches or messages.

Given that the traditional dating app experience is already losing out to alternative ways to find matches – and has been for quite a while – this may be another sign that the accepted “standard” for online dating could need to change. The study itself predicts that by 2035, over half of the couples in the UK alone will have met online, meaning that improving these experiences now could be a vital part of keeping dating healthy and comfortable for all people involved.

The study found that testosterone levels can rise sharply following a match, then fall significantly after rejection or being unmatched, impacting confidence, energy, and libido. Elevated cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, was also found to remain high among regular users, leading to a state of chronic anticipatory anxiety. Within the next few years, there is a good chance that a number of alternative apps will crop up that attempt to address this very problem – and if one succeeds, it could cause a shift in online dating as a whole.