Special report: Dating apps and break-ups, make-ups, hook-ups

Dating apps: Maybe you’ve used them, maybe you haven’t. Chances are, you’ve likely heard of them and, as Samantha O’Connor found out, these apps are changing the way people of all ages date.

Apps are taking over our smartphones, but it’s the dating apps that seem to be the new norm.

“It struck me as weird that’s the first place people go nowadays,” one man said.

“If the well runs dry, I’ll get myself on Tinder,” another man said.

When interviewing people about dating apps, I was asked if I was on any myself.

I downloaded nine different dating apps for research purposes. I noticed most of the apps are location-based; three that I found aren’t even available in Bend. A few of them feel like a video game, and one actually gives you a grade based on your “dating capabilities.”

I currently have a C+.

“Because of the boom in these, people are trying on all kinds of relationships,” marriage counselor Tim Higdon said.

These varying relationships alone are starting to evolve the definition of the word.

“They’ve staying single intentionally, they aren’t ready for a committed relationship,” Higdon said.

“It’s not just you turn 20 and you get married or you graduate college and get married, people definitely seem to explore more,” said one college student.

According to Nielsen data, 1 in 10 people send more than an hour per day on a dating app or website every single day.

If that doesn’t surprise you, this might: Tinder, a popular dating app, allows users to be as young as 13.

“Oh, that’s weird! That’s so creepy,” some high schoolers said.

Here are the rules: 13 to 17 year olds can’t see anyone 18 or older, and users 18 and up can’t see anyone 13 to 17.

“On these things, you can be anything you want right? That’s scary, really scary,” Higdon said.

As a marriage counselor, Higdon has seen all kinds of relationships issues, and dating apps are now added to the list.

“I think dating apps really accentuate the breakups,” Higdon said, “That’s what puts them in my office, stuff like that.”

Relationship issues can happen with or without dating apps, but it’s the singles at your fingertips that are the new form of distraction.

“Lust is from a distance, love is up close and personal,” Higdon said.

That lust is causing concern when it comes to casual sex and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

“It’s not really looking for someone looking for values, it’s more just to hook up,” said one woman.

Here are some statistics for Deschutes County:

In the years 2010 to 2014, more than 2,000 chlamydia cases have been reported, 10 cases of HIV, and 63 cases of gonorrhea.

However, in the year 2015 alone, there were 50 reported cases of gonorrhea.

Another concern is a rise is syphilis, with 27 reported infections from 2011 to 2015 — 9 of those were in 2015.

There is no data connecting dating apps with STDs, but the reputation of these apps has stuck.

“I heard about it at a party, and everyone else is like, ‘I need to download this app,'” one student said.

“No one is like, ‘Hey I met this guy on Tinder,'” a woman said.

The subject alone gets people talking, and everyone has something to say.

“I’ve heard of some people that have dated and not just for sexual relations.”

“For me, I’m not trying to reach out to some stranger online.”

“What made you go Tinder? ‘Loneliness.'”

“I don’t know, I’m just used to the old days where you go out and you mingle, and now it’s this whole, ‘Do you have a dating profile?'”

Whether you swipe right or swipe left, dating apps are changing the dating game all together.

For more information on STDs:

Oregon Health Authority: http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/HIVSTDViralHepatitis/Pages/index.aspx

Deschutes County Health: http://www.deschutes.org/health/page/stisstds-sexually-transmitted-infectionsdiseases