Alex Klein

Baggage Claim

Online dating platforms gained popularity in recent years: 3 in 10 U.S. adults have used a dating app or a website [1]. While services like Match.com and Tinder claim their effectiveness in finding dates, relationships, or love they fail to mention the emotional harm that interactions on these platforms can cause [2]. In search of a perfect match, it is easy to become a target of emotionally manipulative behaviors, often referred to as “mind games” that are so common online. The reason why “mind games”, such as “ghosting”, “catfishing”, “breadcrumbing”, and “hot-and-cold”, gained popularity in computer-mediated communication is a lowered level of accountability for ones’ words and actions when the interaction doesn’t take place face-to-face. [3]

As dating app activity exists solely in virtual space, it can be hard to realize the real-life consequences of mind games, Baggage Claim gives a physical form to the emotional baggage that is left behind from engaging in manipulative behaviours. While users are affected differently by interactions online, mind games can have long-term impacts on their sense of self-worth, create attachment anxiety, and affect their ability to trust others. [4]

Based on recent research, the Baggage Claim is a visual representation of unhealthy communications strategies, such as mind games, that became prevalent in the age of Internet and technology. It serves as a starting point for a much-needed conversation about the negative impact of mind games on online dating platforms users as well as a means for reassessment of our behaviours.

[1] Vogels, Emily A. “10 Facts about Americans and Online Dating.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, June 4, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/06/10-facts-about-americans-and-online-dating/.

[2] Match.com. Accessed November 9, 2021. http://www.match.com/.

[3] LeFebvre, Leah E., Mike Allen, Ryan D. Rasner, Shelby Garstad, Aleksander Wilms, and Callie Parish.“Ghosting in Emerging Adults’ Romantic Relationships: The Digital Dissolution Disappearance Strategy.” Imagination, Cognition and Personality 39, no. 2 (December 2019): 125–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236618820519.

[4] Marissa A Mosley, Morgan Lancaster, M. L. Parker, and Kelly Campbell, “Adult Attachment and Online Dating Deception: A Theory Modernized”, Sexual and Relationship Therapy 35, no. 2 (2020): 227-243, https://doi-org.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/14681994.2020.1714577.