Swipe right : college, dating, and the digital world

Abstract

This thesis is about the modern process of “dating” or hooking up, the way technology is at the center of it, the exhaustion it creates, and the sadness for a loss of innocence/loss of simpler times/ loss of a better way to go about all of this. It needs to be written because it represents the experience of thousands of college kids around the country who are trying to figure out how to navigate this strange new environment. I hope it serves as a warning to younger, high-school-aged kids so that they can choose to do things differently, and I hope it opens the eyes of older readers who may not be aware of the pressures and disappointment hook-up culture inflicts on young people like me. Please note that this project focuses on heterosexual relationships. This is not an attempt to exclude marginalized communities, but rather to contain the scope of this piece, and to focus on representing the people and practices I am most familiar with, which happen to be heterosexual.