It’s a match! Tinder tales and fails

Swiping right could get you a date this Valentine’s Day

BROOKLYN DIPPO
ASST. FEATURE EDITOR
@brooklyndippo

Finding a date this Valentine’s Day could be as easy as swiping right. Tinder, a mobile dating app, allows users within a set radius to find potential partners and connect with each other.

The app boasts nearly 50 million users and over a billion swipes every day, with men swiping right 46 percent of the time and women 14 percent of the time. All in all, that adds up to 12 million Tinder matches on a daily basis according to the New York Times.

Though some University of San Diego students see the app as superficial, many find it useful when it comes to connecting with new people. Students weighed in on the pros and cons of the app and offered tips on how to get more matches.

Jito Kok, a junior at USD, doesn’t use Tinder himself but sees it as a useful way to save time finding out whether or not a new acquaintance is actually interested in pursuing the relationship.

“People are there specifically to meet other people,” Kok said. “So you already have a shared goal with the people you meet on Tinder.”

Tinder doesn’t offer as many search preferences as traditional dating sites do, but it does allow you to narrow down the basics in what you’re looking for. Instead of questionnaires to compare compatibility, Tinder allows you to control the gender, age, and distance of potential matches.

Stephen Ferraro, a senior at USD, sets his preferences to help him connect with older women that he wouldn’t otherwise encounter in the college environment. He added that he uses Tinder in hopes of finding true love.

“Every time I swipe right on Tinder, I truly believe that person could potentially be my soul mate,” said Ferraro.

“[Tinder] also functions as a great mechanism for meeting cougars, older women, who typically do not occupy the same ecological niche as strapping young college lads like myself.”

The largest fear that USD students have about Tinder, is that people can present themselves online in a distorted angle, making themselves seem more attractive than they are in reality.

Lex Isham, a freshman at USD, doesn’t like Tinder because he feels like all of the girls he has seen on the app are fake.

“I think it is a big lie because people can add their best picture and most of the time girls are liars on that app,” Isham said.

Bradley Bond, a communication studies professor at USD, expanded on the practice of false representation of individuals online.

“The asynchronous nature of the internet provides users with the opportunity to strategically craft messages and carefully calculate self-presentation in a manner that would be impossible in face-to-face interactions,” Bond said. “Factors like vocal intonation, facial expressions, and nonverbal communication are lost when communicating through text.”

“The lack of cues has been shown to actually correlate with positive impressions of people we meet online,” Bond said. This is because our brains function to fill in the communication gaps with the most ideal traits.

However, this can backfire when the imagined face-to-face interactions do not align with real face-to-face interactions.

“Because people do not have the luxury of control in face-to-face interactions that they have online, they may not live up to the standards for which they have set for themselves and disappoint possible romantic partners,” Bond said.

Though there is always the potential for disappointment with online relationships, there is a chance that the interaction can go really well too. Some Tinder matches at USD have evolved from casual interactions into long-term relationships.

Katie Anschuetz, a senior at USD, met her boyfriend of nearly six months, Matt Hemphill, on the dating app. Anschuetz admitted that she had to swipe through some unfavorable candidates before finding her match though.

“There’s definitely some jerks and some weirdos on there,” Anschuetz said. “But seeing Matt and after talking to him for awhile, I could tell he was a very sweet and good guy.”

Hemphill also commented on his Tinder sparked relationship with Anschuetz.

“I don’t know if I would say love at first swipe, but she was definitely stuck in my head,” Hemphill said. “Almost six months into officially dating, and I can honestly say I’ve never felt the way I do for Katie about anyone else. I’m in love with her, true love can happen on Tinder.”

Many people are surprised to find out that the couple met on Tinder, they explained.

“We would joke about needing to make up a new story of how we met, because of the bad, hook-up reputation that the app has,” Anschuetz said.

“But we’ve come to realize that it’s an amazing story,” Hemphill said. “When two people are perfect for each other it doesn’t matter how they meet, it just matters that they do, and I honestly thank Tinder every day.”

While some might be successful in finding love on Tinder, others may find something completely unexpected

Mitchell Morley, a senior at USD, matched with a girl named Jane late one Friday night and the two hit it off instantly. After talking for about an hour, they decided to meet up.

“She says she’s lonely and wants some company, and it’s about midnight,” Morley said. “She messaged me asking, ‘Will you come over for some tea?’”

The two met up, yet neither felt particularly flirtatious, so for hours they just sat and talked about their life from their childhood to their dreams. At the end of the night, Morley said goodnight and left, and they never spoke again.

“Tinder was a pretty silly way to meet a stranger, drink tea, and shoot the crap about life, but it happened,” Morley said.

Swipe quickly enough before the clock strikes midnight and you just may find your Tinderella.