Big Youth Survey finds shocking reason why children under 14 use dating apps
An exclusive survey has shown the reality of dating for young Australians, including what they are confronted with online. See the full results.
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Children younger than 14 are using dating apps to look for love, hook-ups and friendship, according to a survey, which also found that the majority of young Aussies have at some point felt unsafe or uncomfortable using them.
A third of those aged 15 to 24 confessed to using dating apps, and of those one in six admitted they first signed up before they were adults.
The Big Youth Survey 2024 – the second one of its kind produced by careers advisory organisation Year13 – delves into the love lives of young Aussies, offering some fascinating insights.
It found that a third of people who had been in a relationship – whether through a dating app or in real life – had been ghosted, which is when someone disappears from their life without telling them directly.
The way young people look for romance is also changing.
One in 10 have say they have met someone through a dating app and more than one in five via social media.
Many dating apps require users to be 18, including Tinder, which was by far the most popular dating app for teens and young people. However, more than 18 per cent of dating app users joined when they were aged 17 or under.
More than half of all users admitted they had felt unsafe or uncomfortable while on the apps and the same number again warned there were not sufficient safety measures in place to protect them.
Four in 10 users also reported they have had a negative experience with someone they met in person from an app.
Saxon Phipps, co-founder of Year13, which supports young people as they transition from school to TAFE, university or work, said results suggested there were not enough safety measures in place around age restrictions or keeping them safe on dating apps.
“Even though Tinder in Australia recently brought in ID verification, it seems that’s
mainly to verify the authenticity of your profile and that you are who you say you are, rather than as part of the sign-up process to stop under 18s joining,” Mr Phipps said.
Sam David, 24, said he got on Tinder at 17, but when he was 18 or 19, he would see people on there he knew were 16 or 17, which “put him off”.
While Aamya Khosla, 19, said her 28-year-old work colleague was shocked to discover her Tinder match was only 17 when they went on a date.
A study by Flinders University earlier this year found children as young as 12 were using dating apps.
Researcher Tahlia Hart, who interviewed people who had started using dating apps underage, found adolescents were being exposed to “a multiple of harms by going on dating sites”, such as online groomers.
To combat some of these issues Tinder has launched School of Swipe, a website with advice on respectful dating, how to deal with rejection, how to end a relationship, handling toxic behaviours, romance scams and safety tips.
Last September the government gave the six big dating apps, including Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, an ultimatum to make their platforms safer by creating a voluntary industry code of practice, with the deadline the middle of this year.
Perhaps surprisingly, more than one in five dating app users surveyed said they used them to find friends, rather than love. Six in 10 said they went on apps looking for a long-term relationship. Around 40 per cent said they used apps for hook-ups.
Kiara Burridge, and friend Ella Wallich, both 18, said they had found most of their guy friends via Tinder. They also said they felt pretty comfortable using the app because a lot of the profiles that come up are friends of friends.
A Tinder spokeswoman said over the past few years it had developed 20 safety features and updates.
“We utilise a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, systems and processes – and invest significant resources – to prevent and remove minors from our app,” a spokeswoman said.
The survey found more males than females hope to marry and have children one day.
It also found that the relationship status of those under 25 was split roughly into thirds between those with partners, those without and those happy to be single.
Interestingly, a third of people on dating apps had actually never met up with anyone in real life.
Tom Howell, 28, said for some people dating apps can be extremely addictive, like a game, with the buzz about getting a match rather than meeting up. He personally found the experience very superficial.
“As a man, unless you have a great physique, are 6ft 4, and a banker, you can go weeks or months without getting a match,” he said. “When you really think about it, it’s negative overall.”
His girlfriend Chiara Grassi, 26, said she fancied him, when she met him at work but had been too fearful of rejection to swipe right and let him know she liked him.
In the end they got together in a more old fashioned manner – at the work Christmas party.
‘A LOT OF PEOPLE MY AGE ARE QUITE ASSERTIVE ABOUT CONSENT’
Exclusive: Four out of ten girls and one in six boys say they have been pressured into a sexual situation without their consent.
This is despite 96 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds believing it is extremely important or important to seek sexual consent with someone.
The shocking findings come from the Big Youth Survey 2024, where more than 1000 young Australians responded to questions about love and sex.
More than half said they had discussed sexual boundaries with an intimate partner before, with just seven per cent saying they hadn’t. A third said they had never had a sexual partner.
Saxon Phipps, co-founder of Year13 said the results showed being pressured into sexual situations without consent was a problem both young females and males face.
“It’s higher for females at 39 per cent compared to males at 16 per cent,” Mr Phipps said. “But that it happens to males at all might be a surprise and a bit of a wakeup call to some out there as it can be easy to think males are better able to handle and avoid these situations than females, when as we can see that is not always the case.”
Last year consent education was mandated in Australian schools, which came about in part because of a 43,000-strong petition started by former Australian schoolgirl Chanel Contos, who was sexually assaulted when she was 13.
Her 2021 Instagram post asking whether anyone else had been assaulted by a peer during their school years went global and saw more than 6700 people respond, some with harrowing stories.
The latest Australian statistics show one in five women and six per cent of men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.
Daisy Evans, 17 from Melbourne, said she was more informed and confident to say what she wanted in a relationship because of consent education at school.
“Now a lot of people my age, turning 18, are quite assertive about consent,” Ms Evans said. “We understand it better. In a relationship most people are taking it on-board to be responsible and ask for consent.”
However, Saanvi Soni, 16, from Sydney said unfortunately a lot of people her age think consent education is a joke and don’t take it seriously.
She also questioned how the subject was taught in religious schools, like hers.
“I think consent education should be standardised and that teachers should refrain from speaking their personal opinions in class because some students may mistake it for being factual,” Saanvi said.
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Originally published as Big Youth Survey finds shocking reason why children under 14 use dating apps
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