Column: Students give love –– and hookups –– the old college try

By OLIVIA GARRETT Staff Writer

Your college years are for “exploring and opening up your heart,” said junior education major Daniela Shkembi. But how many college students, particularly in the age of online dating, are willing to open their hearts up to love?

Many college students use dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, or Grindr to connect with others — in a

2021 study conducted by the University of South Carolina, 45 of 69 students surveyed reported that they use one or more dating apps in the last 12 months. Students can use these dating apps for various reasons: casual dating, hookups and even long-term relationships.

Dating apps have the ability to connect users with other people in the area as fast as possible. This instant connection and the temporary relationship that follows introduced the idea of modern-day hookup culture, or casual dating. In both hookup culture and casual dating, casual sex and hookups are encouraged, and relationships are formed without the involvement of commitment.

Solé Hall-Hamilton, a senior education and English major, said that they use Tinder and Bumble mainly for hookups. Hall-Hamilton said that communication is the most important thing when approaching the app for a hookup.

Hall-Hamilton said they want to ensure they are on the same page as the other person regarding how they approach a hookup or casual sex situation. Hall-Hamilton said that they need the other person to see them as a person and not just a sex object.

With the protection of a digital environment also comes the phenomenon of “ghosting” in which a person abruptly stops communicating with the other person. Hayoung Vall, a junior English major, said ghosting is one of the disadvantages of casual dating.

“Hookup culture is dangerous because we’ve normalized cutting off communication out of nowhere,” Vall said.

C. Manson, a sophomore education major who opted to conceal their first name, said that they view dating apps as only for hook-ups, and said that they have found difficulty forming emotional connections with the people they matched with.

Shkembi said the dating apps lack passion while also redefining what it means to date, but that it’s all up for interpretation.

“Sex [and dating] have different meanings for everybody,” Shkembi said. “It’s very subjective and personal.”

For Manson, they said dating can be short-term.

“Dating doesn’t have to be permanent — it’s okay to see where things go and take it