The Imperfect Match
Tinder advertises their service as "Swipe. Match. Chat. Date." This may seem like the perfect way to meet new people online, but things are not always as they appear. Like many other college students, I frequent dating apps looking for a new friend or potentially a new relationship. I have been on multiple dating apps such as Tinder, Clover, OkCupid, and Bumble over the past couple of months and have found they all work the same way.
I was reluctant at first about dating apps, but figured I had been single all of my life and had nothing to lose. I began with Tinder as it seemed the most popular, the only problem was it required me to log into my Facebook. I was not about to let my family on Facebook know I was on a dating app, so I made a throwaway Facebook account instead. After asking me for my name, gender, age, and a few pictures, I was ready to go. While exploring the app I found you could link your Instagram and your favorite song from Spotify.
After realizing using a dating app wasn't so bad, I became hopeful to meet new people. I began swiping and found some attractive people I hoped would match with me, but soon I reached my swipe limit and I waited for new matches. I was eager to match with people, and kept a close eye on my phone. Eventually I did match with a few people, but either they did not respond to my message or our conversations never went past small talk, which bummed me out a bit. After a week or so of using the it, I had yet to find someone I made a genuine connection with and decided to delete the app.
This has become somewhat of a cycle for me, I make an account, look for people, try talking to them, get no response and delete the app.It usually takes a couple of weeks after I deleted the last app to get bored and try again. I have even tried anonymous chatting apps such as Whisper.
I have given up on finding a relationship on these apps, I still use them for fun sometimes, but have given up the relationship aspect. I have learned to accept the fact dating apps don't work for me, they mainly work for the guys with shirtless pictures of themselves and look like models. I figured I would have better luck out in the real world but have yet to follow through.
There were times where I became frustrated because my female friends were meeting people on these apps, but I got over it and realized it is different for them. I found many of the guys on these apps are swipe based off appearance, while the girls swipe based off a guy's bio.
I am sure these apps work to find relationships, but they did not work for me. I have seen some of my best friends find people on these apps, get together, and things work out. Of course, there are going to be people on these apps looking for hookups, but there are also genuine relationships to be found as well. I believe everyone's experience is different. Just because I was not able to find someone, that doesn't mean others can't.
In the end, if you find yourself looking for a new relationship or even just looking for friends go ahead and download one of the many dating apps in the app store. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying out these apps, just make sure to stay safe while doing so.