Opinions

The dating deck: generation tinder

With the end of 2013, we welcome the fresh New Year with bright eyes and hopeful hearts.

We leave the bad grades, forgettable arguments, unfinished projects and many heartbreaks behind.

What’s the best way to ring in the New Year for us single kids who are looking for love … or maybe just some quick and easy company?

“Seriously, is everyone on Tinder?”

That’s what one Cal State Long Beach student asked the other day.

Since its development in late 2012, the dating app Tinder has generated over one million downloads.

Tinder is designed through a shallow screening process, unlike the common dating sites such as Plenty of Fish, Match and OkCupid.

While other dating sites requires the subscriber to fill out a personality profile, Tinder finds that as an unecessary prcoess.

 Tinder is simply a headshot of the person, his or her name and the proximity from your current location.

There is an option to create a short tag line but the purpose of the app is to pair couples based purely on physical attraction.

Swipe right if your interested, swipe left to kick them to the curb.

The stack of people in the deck seem limitless, as one can swipe through a 100 potential suitors in the span of a few minutes.

The beauty of this app is the anonymity in the matching process.

People are only paired together if both individuals swipe right on each other’s pictures. If someone swipes left on your picture, you will never know.

Once two people swipe right to each other, “It’s a match!” The pair can start communicating with one another through a message board.

The danger in apps such as these is that finding a partner based on common interests, beliefs and standards are completely eliminated.

What’s even scarier is that Tinder is known as a hookup app, as said on Askmen.com, where many users have no interest in dating at all. This could create a higher risk for unwanted sexual aggression.

Tinder is modeled behind a purely shallow archetype and lowers the traditional values of dating. Sure, relationships begin with mutual attraction but once there’s absolutely no other variable in the mix and people are treated as disposable cards, we will accept this as the new norm of dating.

A few CSULB students admit to using Tinder and find it unusual when their single friends are not actively using it.

These students are right, Tinder and other dating apps have become normal in the dating world.

The playing field seems to grow increasingly difficult as people grow older. While we attempt to balance school, work, friends and dating, something has got to give.

That is why Tinder appeals to so many people looking for a quick date.

Tinder eliminates the initial challenges of approaching someone. As a Tinder user, you don’t even have to leave the house to ask someone out on a date.

If we are to accept Tinder and other social medias as the norm in finding a partner, are we becoming desensitized to in-person communication?

The awkwardness, hesitation, excitement and mystery all seem to be swept under the rug when the digital universe is playing the game for us.

One Comment

  1. Avatar

    Great article Jo! You’re a great writer!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram