Dating Safety
A Changed Dating Landscape
Today, love often starts with a swipe, proof that the dating world has undergone a radical makeover in just 25 years. As a university administrator, your programs and policies can transform your students’ relationships during and after their college experience. While collegiate party culture has long raised safety concerns, the rise of dating apps and anonymous social platforms adds an entirely new layer of risk.
How Are Students Even Meeting?
While many college students are still meeting in-person through classes, on-campus activities, and bars, a recent study1 found that about 21% of surveyed college and graduate students regularly use dating apps to match with people both on and off campus. Dating apps play a major role in today’s dating landscape, so it is worth considering how to support student safety in this era of online dating.
Safety on the Apps
Many popular dating apps have built-in safety measures for users communicating with each other within the app itself, including but not limited to:
· In-app video calling to prevent users from sharing personal contact information prematurely
· Content moderation to filter out harassment
· Blocking and reporting tools
· Incognito settings that allow users to block specific people in their contacts
· “Private Detector” function that blurs potentially explicit photos shared via in-app chats
While some dating apps offer these safety features, the use of pseudonyms and anonymous platforms like Yik Yak and Fizz make it difficult to know who’s really on the other end. Even though the anonymous nature of these apps has garnered criticism for cyberbullying and misinformation, students still commonly use these apps to solicit dates and hook-ups. Some apps that let users hide behind anonymity include safety features like content moderators, but others shift the responsibility to students to recognize the risks of interacting with people who face little accountability for their actions.
Safety Beyond the Apps
Dating apps offer other safety tools like profile verification and reporting, but these measures have limits once personal details are shared and in-person meetings occur. Beyond apps, college students face additional risks, especially since most dating violence happens with someone they already know. This is where the uSafeUS® app functions can assist:
· Time to Leave, lets users trigger a credible fake phone call or text to help them extract themselves from an uncomfortable situation
· Expect Me, lets users alert friends or family members and enable location sharing if your they don’t arrive on time
· Angel Drink, provides users with a realistic “recipe” so they can discreetly get help from a server or bartender
uSafeUS additionally has tools that allow users to file a Title IX sexual misconduct form through the app directly and connects them with critical campus and community resources and contacts. uSafeUS is here to help your student navigate the dating scene more confidently and safely.
Concluding Thoughts
Among college students who report experiencing dating violence or abuse, over 50% report the violence occurred during their time on campus. While dating looks very different today, colleges remain essential in supporting student safety. As students navigate new relationships and experiences, uSafeUS can be the difference between safety and danger, anytime, anywhere.
1. Tenore, H. (2023, November 6). Heck no to hookups: Why college students are staying away from dating apps. Business Insider. Retrieved November 21, 2025, from https://www.businessinsider.com/college-students-reject-dating-apps-hookups-tinder-bumble-hinge-2023-11#:~:text=Generation%20Lab%20is%20a%20research,use%20of%20online%20dating%20platforms.&text=The%20survey%20found%20that%20a,in%20hookups%20or%20casual%20sex