You’ve tried Match.com because you thought it seemed reputable. Legitimate concern. But your free trial has run up, and so has your patience with Match guys. Maybe you’ve got a little more energy to try something different. Maybe you’ll give online dating a rest for a while. Or maybe you’re just into free stuff.
What is Tinder?
You’ve heard about Tinder from “people”. You can’t seem to remember who told you about it, just that someone did. Maybe it’s on everyone’s subconscious minds and the information gets shared telepathically. That wouldn’t surprise you, considering the reputation Tinder has: seedy. Even though your curiosity is piqued, you’re not sure you’re ready to go the Tinder route. So you forget about it.
One day, your friend talks about it in the open. Her friend, who is visiting at the moment, uses Tinder all the time. Matter of fact, she has a date with a Tinder guy tonight. In this city that she’s never been to before. Hmmm. While friend of a friend is on the date, you and your friend discuss the intriguing application that is Tinder. After a couple glasses of wine, you decide to download it, just for a laugh.
Let the Games Begin
It latches onto your Facebook page immediately, steals the most unflattering pictures from your profile album (which takes you an hour to realize), and invites you to shuffle through pictures of guys like a pack of cards. Swipe to the left for a “no”, to the right for a “yes”. You and your friend laugh somewhat drunkenly at “guy who posts picture of only his abs…which aren’t that impressive”, “guy who has bad tats”, “guy who claims to be 25 but looks 55”, “guy who has posted a group photo, and hasn’t identified himself”. Finally, you realize you can select a “see more” option to browse a (thankfully) brief profile and other pictures. One guy has posted 4 pictures of his car… each from a different angle. You begin to feel powerful, swiping so many guys left, discarding them without a second thought.
Not a One-Off, After All
As you leave your friend’s house, you thank her for the laugh, the wine, and tell her you’ll probably never open the app again. Oh how wrong you are. The next morning, after your alarm goes off, instead of opening twitter to help wake you up, you click on Tinder. You swipe through a few guys until you see one that catches your eye. He looks kind of like a douchebag, but, hey, he’s cute! And what’s wrong with a little chatting, right? So you swipe right. Immediately, you’re redirected to another screen “A Match!” declares Tinder, indicating that the guy in question also liked your profile. “Play Again?” the app asks. You feel a surge of power as you tap your thumb on “yes”.
3 comments
Group Tindering – the best way to spend a Saturday with the girls.
I stopped using tinder a few weeks ago… too many douches for my liking lol. My coworker showed me cliqie.com and I’m a big fan of that over the others in terms of actually meeting people vs. just entertainment. It has a different approach that feels less sketchy cause you and your friends essentially act as “wingmen”. I like that it helps you find things to do too. Skout’s okay too, but still has it’s fair share of creepers
Good to know! Thanks for the recommendations. I’m definitely curious about this “wingman” app. Sounds pretty cool. Maybe we’ll write a post about those next week 😉
And yeah, it’s pretty much impossible to find an online dating site without any creepers. Guess that’s just the nature of the beast, though. le sigh.