If you have been living under a rock for the past three years, you may not have heard of the dating app Tinder. Tinder allows you to swipe through other people in your area. If you like the person, you swipe right and if you don’t like them, you swipe left. If you both swipe right on each other, you “match” and you can message each other. Simple, right? No.
In theory, Tinder is a simple and fun way to meet new people, whether you are looking for love or just want to make friends. But the problem is that anyone can join and, unfortunately, a short bio and a few pictures is not enough to show you whether or not someone is crazy, gross or a murderer. Swiping right is like a weird trust exercise with total strangers.
I am recently single and decided to join Tinder about three weeks ago. I have heard all the stories of guys just wanting sex or being creepy or whatever else. But, I have also known so many people who have had great experiences on Tinder and a lot of them are in serious relationships that started on the app. So, I, being a single person in search of love and also just in search of friends, decided to join Tinder.
I don’t think I have ever had such a mixed feeling about anything in my life. On one hand, Tinder is a huge confidence boost. After going through a breakup, it was nice to be reminded that there are plenty of people in the world – within 11 miles of me – who find me attractive and want to get to know me. On the other hand, there are so many people who really want to get to know me. While I appreciate people being straightforward, I don’t appreciate someone messaging me asking me to do dirty ridiculous stuff at noon on a Tuesday. Or, for some reason swipe right and message me saying hi, but then immediately ghost me or are sketchy about meeting up. (If you are someone who does that, I have to ask: why did you join this app if you don’t want to meet people?)
My brief time on Tinder has been interesting. I have definitely met some interesting people, and I finally met someone in real life and it actually went really well. Not wedding bells well, but I definitely have a fun new friend! I think the most important thing I have learned is to not take it personally when people ghost me or say stupid stuff. If anyone is rude or gross with you, just unmatch them immediately. You don’t have time for that. Another thing that is important is to remember to stay safe. Don’t meet someone you don’t know alone. Meet in a public space and make sure a friend knows that you are meeting someone and where you are meeting them. And have fun with it! If Tinder is making you stress out or taking up a lot of your time, it’s not worth keeping.
It has been a wild ride, but it also has been really fun meeting and talking to new people. I would definitely encourage anyone to try it out. If you have been on the fence about it, I say just go for it and join. Have fun and good luck!
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