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Love at First Swipe

Firsthand experience: a Tinder account can be one creepy waste of time.

Dating can be hard these days. As a freshman in college, I understand that the “struggle is real,” and that finding a companion/date is complicated in more ways than one. “Is he/she interested?” “Why didn’t so and so ask for my number?” and “Are we more than friends?” are common questions among freshmen and, I’m sure, some upperclassmen too. How do you even go about meeting people these days? Places like the gym, library, and dorms are frequent meeting places in college, but even in these settings people are usually doing their own thing. So when you are down and out, without a date, or “single as a pringle,” is it okay to resort to online dating sites?

Well, first of all, e-harmony, plentyoffish.com, and okcupid are more geared towards the older crowd. A college student in their upper teens/lower twenties might have difficulty finding someone on these sites that appeals to them. What gives? There aren’t many websites that are geared towards the younger crowd, so when Tinder came out not too long ago, it caused some stir among many teenagers and twenty-somethings that were looking to spice up their love lives.
When assigned this article, I had yet to use Tinder and decided to download the app and give it a try out of sheer curiosity (my friend also did the same). The second I signed up and put my zip code into the “Location box”, boys of all ages from 18-to-mid twenties started coming up on the home screen, and it was my option to either EX them or HEART them (X means I don’t like you, Heart means I do). If you “heart” someone and they heart you back, then that is a “match.” When people are matched, it notifies them, and they have the option to either start talking or keep looking for other matches.

I did not observe many people that I wanted to “heart” per se, but when I did, they would instantly send a message such as “What’s up?” or “How are you?”. The conversation usually goes nowhere though, and unless you are willing to go on a date with someone you don’t even know, Tinder is pretty much pointless. It can even be considered creepy; the first guy that messaged me instantly said, “Hey, are you dtf?” This made me laugh, and, for the most part, a lot of messages are in this manner. I even received one that started off telling me, “I would do a battle with a pack of wild mountain lions… just to go on a skype date with you” (picture shown below). It’s not like this guy was being serious (or was he?), but was probably trying to creep me out due to sheer boredom.
In asking around, the general consensus of Tinder was “creepy” and “pointless,” and someone directly said, “I made one when I was drunk – now that I am sober I regret it deeply.”

Tinder can be fun if you are really bored or in a mood to creep some people out, but as a “dating” site for people of the younger generation, I personally wouldn’t recommend it! If you really want a date, I suggest walking around Rollins and exploring your options. It’s a lot more entertaining than a guy sitting behind an app asking “Hey, are you dtf?”

The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandspur, its staff or Rollins College.

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