Hookup Apps, Boredom, and Risky Behavior
Friday, February 14, 2025.
College students, armed with smartphones and hormones, have turned to dating apps like Tinder and Bumble with the fervor of prospectors panning for gold—except the gold here is more ephemeral and often comes with a disclaimer.
A recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior finds that college students using these apps are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior.
The twist? Boredom appears to be a key motivator for women seeking connections, while both men and women share an appetite for excitement.
This revelation paints hookup apps not just as matchmakers, but as modern boredom busters—with consequences.
Boredom: The Mother of Risky Adventures
The research, led by Andrew Lepp from Kent State University, builds on over a decade of studies into smartphone habits.
According to Lepp, smartphones—those little rectangles of hope and despair—often promise to kill boredom but instead breed more of it.
His previous research found that people use their smartphones more for leisure than work or learning, only to find themselves more restless. And now, it seems, the digital cure for boredom often leads straight to Tinder.
“People use their smartphones to escape boredom, but ironically, the device itself makes them more bored,” Lepp noted. “We wanted to know if this same boredom-driven smartphone use extended into hookup app behavior.” The research found that it did.
How the Study Went Down
Lepp and his team recruited 410 students from a Midwestern university, luring them into research with the promise of ten minutes of paperwork and anonymity.
With surveys in hand and a locked ballot box for privacy, participants disclosed their hookup app habits and sexual behavior. Among them, 173 students confessed to using apps like Tinder.
The researchers deployed tools like the Leisure Boredom Scale and the Sexual Risk Survey—which sounds like the worst kind of Buzzfeed quiz—to measure both boredom and risky behavior. Sensation seeking, or the craving for thrills, was also assessed. In short, they quantified the uniquely human cocktail of loneliness, thrill-seeking, and questionable decision-making.
The Surprising Findings
The results were clear: App users engaged in significantly more risky sexual behavior, and women using apps were often motivated by boredom.
Meanwhile, sensation seeking predicted app use for both genders.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Women high in sensation seeking were more likely to engage in risky behavior even without the help of an app. In other words, some women bring their own fireworks.
Contrary to stereotypes, both men and women on hookup apps showed similar rates of risky behavior.
As Lepp put it, “Once people start using these apps, the risks look the same, regardless of gender.” This flies in the face of the old trope that women use these apps for romance and men for casual sex. The reality, it seems, is more complicated. Shocking, I know
But Wait, There’s More
While Lepp’s findings are compelling, they aren’t the only story in town.
Other research, such as a study by Holtzhausen et al. (2022) published in Journal of Adolescent Health, suggests that the connection between hookup apps and risky behavior weakens when accounting for relationship-seeking motives. Simply put, not everyone on Tinder is chasing a quick hookup—some are swiping for something more profound (or at least, less fleeting).
Similarly, a meta-analysis by Garcia and Reiber (2021) in Sexuality & Culture noted that many college students use hookup apps for social validation rather than purely sexual outcomes, complicating the boredom narrative.
Why It Matters
In the end, Lepp’s work underscores that smartphone use and hookup apps are more than technological novelties—they are mirrors reflecting our desires and dissatisfactions.
For women, boredom emerges as a distinct driver, raising questions about the emotional landscape of modern leisure. Are we so starved for excitement that we’ll risk heartbreak (or worse) to escape boredom?
And what about men? Their relationship with these apps seems less about boredom and more about the chase for sensation. Or perhaps they are simply less likely to name boredom as a culprit, masking it under bravado..
Final Thoughts
Technology gives, and technology takes away.
These little pocket portals to excitement, connection, and chaos come with their own existential price tags. Perhaps the lesson here isn’t to avoid the apps but to approach them—and our boredom—with a little more curiosity and a lot more caution.
After all, the real danger isn’t in swiping right; it’s in not knowing why we’re swiping in the first place.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Garcia, J. R., & Reiber, C. (2021). Hookup culture on college campuses: A meta-analysis. Sexuality & Culture, 25(3), 456-473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09876-2
Holtzhausen, K., et al. (2022). Motivations for using dating apps and their association with risky sexual behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 70(4), 255-262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.03.007
Lepp, A., Yim, B., & Barkley, J. E. (2024). Smartphone hookup app use and college student’s risky sexual behavior: A model including leisure boredom, sensation seeking, and the moderating role of gender. Computers in Human Behavior, 152, 107856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.107856