Connection not Found
How do dating apps change how we interact with each other and understand ourselves in relationships?
The Project
It began to seem like everyone was either using dating apps or at least had an opinion or a weird story about them. I have my fair share of opinions and weird stories, but this is not about me. It’s about us. How are dating apps changing how we interact? With ourselves, each other, how is this changing the way we date and relate to each other? I know how my friends and I felt about dating apps, but we are only a small part of the story. With 35 thousand undergraduate students, there are so many more stories and opinions right here on campus, just waiting to be told. I got 30 out of those 35 thousand to tell me something substantial. That’s 0.0008% of the Umich population, but those stories are still invaluable. They still show us something, bits and pieces of individual stories that help us understand how dating apps are changing the way we relate to each other.
The goal of this project is to answer my leading question, but more than that, I want to bring to the forefront experiences of dating apps for students on UM's campus. I want to know what people think about dating apps and how they make them feel. I want to highlight the experiences, opinions, and stories of people who are behind a screen. Dating apps have the ability to make people feel disconnected, but I want to try and show that maybe our stories aren't so different, maybe we can connect with each other just a little bit better.
Our screens can pull us apart, so let's try to get back in touch.