We live in a time where the use of technology is rampant, infiltrating every corner of our lives. We can now use applications to do tasks ranging from finding the nearest Starbucks to downloading and reading books. Given our dependence on technology, it is hardly surprising that it has begun to seep into a rather sacred area of our lives: our relationships with other people.

While dating websites have been popular among adults for a while, a new social media “dating” app called Tinder has only recently gained popularity among teenagers. After specifying age, gender, and location, users are shown potential matches in their region. Users can then swipe left to dislike a profile and swipe right to like it. If two people both “like” each other, they are notified that they are a match.

After Tinder users judge a person based on their profile photo, they can begin messaging each other within seconds, often to coordinate a time and place to meet up.

While most dating sites and apps ask users to provide details about their hobbies and interests, Tinder is based only on appearance and proximity—evidence of a key difference between Tinder and most other online dating websites and apps. The difference is that, while Tinder is marketed as a dating app, it’s very focused on casual sex—many users are only on the app to find a quick hook up.

I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with wanting a casual relationship—although it completely depends upon how one goes about it. There is something fundamentally wrong with depending upon an app to essentially “schedule” a quick hook up with a random person. Doing so completely devalues relationships and human interactions in general,  by reducing a person to nothing but a single photo and an opportunity for casual sex—without the obligation to see them the following Monday.

Using an app to arrange hook ups allows you to cut out almost all human interaction—your phone is doing all the communication for you. In the real world, you are forced to interact with the other person and build some sort of connection with them, even if you choose never to revisit it again. Cutting out the vast majority of communication with a person reduces them to nothing but means to an end.

Simply swiping left or right and then following up with a few words in a typed message cuts out the part of a relationship that is the most fulfilling—slowly getting to know who someone is as a person. Skipping that step altogether immensely decreases the meaning and worth of relationships by allowing you to forget that relationships offer more than just an opportunity for quick sex.

Dating sites and apps like Tinder severely devalue relationships by making casual encounters so easily accessible. In doing so, apps like Tinder perpetuate the idea that anything outside of a random hook up is simply unnecessary, making it so easy to skip over any sort of commitment.

According to a recent study and article by CNN, our generation has the lowest marriage rates of any generation. While as teenagers we are generally a long way away from marriage, it seems that there must be a connection between the increasing presence of online “dating” in our lives and our low commitment rates. These apps and websites are slowly erasing our communication skills, as well as our ability to build and care about meaningful relationships with other people. While relationships built from an app may be satisfying in the short run, the potential long term effects could be detrimental to our ability to develop successful relationships. If we do not build our communication skills and learn how to form even a short-term relationship when we are young, it will be very difficult to develop any sort of meaningful relationship later on in life, especially one that doesn’t begin with a right swipe.