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This study added communication Internet skills to an existing skill framework of operational, formal, information and strategic skills. We investigated how people deal with inadequate skill levels by identifying support sources. Furthermore, we investigated which of the Internet skills actually matter for attaining beneficial Internet outcomes and whether support sources employed moderate these effects. Results of a large scale survey revealed three support patterns: independents, social support seekers and formal help seekers. The newly added communication skills prove to be an important addition since they have an independent effect on beneficial Internet use. The group of independent Internet users benefited more from Internet use than formal help seekers and much more than social support seekers. Internet communication skills hold the potential for achieving a high degree of independence in using the Internet by compensating for information skills so as to attain beneficial Internet outcomes.

To better understand if and how the mechanics of the process Tinder imposes on its users (i.e., swiping, matching, and starting conversations) influences the resulting sexual or romantic interactions, we collected data from 1038 Belgian Tinder users. Our findings show that a user's swiping quantity does not guarantee a higher number of Tinder matches, women have generally more matches than men and men usually have to start a conversation on Tinder. Moreover, while having conversations was positively associated with reporting having had offline Tinder encounters, less than half of our sample reported having had an offline meeting with another Tinder user. Whereas more than one third of those offline encounters lead to casual sex, more than a quarter of those offline encounters result in the formation of a committed relationship. Such findings indicate that Tinder is not "just a hookup app", as often assumed in public discourse. We argue it is plausible that sexual encounters will eventually lead to committed relationships in a society where initiation of relationship formation with dating has been replaced by hooking up.Keywords: Tinder, casual sex, romantic relationship, Tinder outcomes, Tinder use From Swiping to Casual Sex and/or Committed Relationships: Exploring the Experiences of Tinder UsersWhile courtship in the 19th century was characterized by family supervision in the privacy of the home, it became more individualistic during the next century (Illouz, 1997).Recently, it evolved into a more casual practice characterized by high levels of sexual interaction (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012; Reid, Elliot, & Webber, 2011;Wade, 2017). These developments historically coincided with technological innovations, which enabled new modes of courtship. For instance, starting in the 20th century, the automobile and the entertainment industry (i.e., movie theaters, the drive-in culture, dance halls) provided dating couples with inexpensive opportunities to get away from their daily routines and parental control (Bogle, 2008; Illouz, 1997). Towards the beginning of the 21st century, online dating services started expanding an individual's dating pool (Clark, 1998; David & Cambre, 2016). Individuals were no longer restricted to dating those physically and socially proximate. They could now connect with prospective partners outside their preexisting networks (Barraket & Henry-Waring, 2008). This ease of connectivity and the seemingly limitless possibilities offered by online dating sites and mobile dating applications (MDAs) has received considerable critical attention (Bhattacharya, 2015;Hardey, 2004; Landovitz et al., 2013;Sales 2015).Both researchers and the popular media argue that it has become easier than ever to find casual sexual partners with MDAs (e.g., Bhattacharya, 2015; David & Cambre, 2016; Race 2015;Sales, 2015). Especially Grindr, a location-based MDA predominantly targeted at men who have sex with men, has received quite a bit of scholarly attention on issues related to sexual ...

This article reports an empirical study on the composition and socioeconomic background of social support networks and their moderating role in explaining digital inequalities. It conceptually draws upon and empirically reaffirms Van Dijk's multiple access model, acknowledging motivational, material, skill and usage divides, while focussing on the under-researched issue of social support as indispensible source of social learning. Besides a small group of self-reliants, the results indicate a pattern of relatively socially disadvantaged domestic support receivers, characterized by lower digital resources. A second social support pattern points to a relatively socially advantaged non-domestic support receivers (i.e. friends/colleagues), high in digital resources. Drawing upon the concept of homophily in social networks, the results indicate a link between offline and online exclusion, perpetuating digital inequalities.