A t this time, there’s little dispute that dating apps work. Studies have unearthed that the quality of relationships that start on the internet just isn’t basically distinct from the ones that come from individual, and 59% of participants to a 2015 Pew Analysis Center study stated dating apps and sites are “a simple method to meet up individuals.”

Good because it might be for your love life, though, swiping is not always all fun and games. Here’s how dating apps might be inside your psychological state — and just how to utilize them in a smarter method.

Dating apps may harm self-esteem

In a 2016 study, Tinder users had been discovered to own lower self-esteem and more human body image problems than non-users. The research didn’t prove that Tinder really causes these impacts, but co-author Trent Petrie, a teacher of therapy during the University of North Texas, claims these issues certainly are a danger for users of any social media network that prompts behaviors that are“evaluative. (A agent from Tinder didn’t react to TIME’s ask for remark.)

“When we since human beings are represented by just everything we appear to be, we begin to consider ourselves in a really comparable method: being an item become examined,” Petrie claims.

To counter that effect, Petrie claims it is crucial to help keep viewpoint. Read more