Life on Tinder: From motives of use to self-presentation

Tinder has become one of the most popular mobile dating apps to meet people nearby. Along with its popularity, the academic interest in understanding Tinder and the experiences of its users has grown. Worldwide, an increasing number of studies have investigated for instance what motivates people to use Tinder, how they organize and manage their self-presentation. Aligning with and extending the available literature, the present cross-sectional exploratory study investigates the experiences with Tinder in a sample of Italian emerging adults (N = 578, 65.5% women; M (age) = 25.62, SD (age) = 5.10), investigating for possible differences among users considering their gender and age simultaneously. Participants, recruited adopting a snowball sampling technique, completed an online questionnaire comprised of different sections to explore their general experience with Tinder, their motives of use, and their self-presentation. Results show that participants use Tinder mostly for curiosity and entertainment and, during the Covid-19 lockdown, to feel less lonely. Furthermore, the results on self-presentation show that participants construct a clear, authentic, but at the same time attractive version of themselves, by highlighting, for instance, their hobbies and personality in their bios and by visually representing themselves through selfie. We situate these findings within their broader context, discuss the limitations and possible avenues for future studies into the topic.