Swipe left or swipe right?

BRITTANY CARAVA
FEATURE EDITOR
@brittcarava

Over the last few years, online dating has gone from cheesy commercials that people laugh at to something easily accessible on your smartphone. With the popularity of the free apps OkCupid and Tinder, anyone can match with a potential partner based on their area or common interests.

Although there is still a stigma on online dating, I think that if it works for you personally, then it shouldn’t matter what people say about your relationship with the person you met on one of these sites. I’ll be candid with my experience with Tinder; I was actually pleasantly surprised that there were people out there looking for relationships.

However, I would not call this app perfect; there are definitely a few flaws. First, and this could be the app malfunctioning or human error, but I am pretty sure I have received messages from people that I do not remember swiping right to. For those not familiar with the app, swiping left signifies disinterest in the potential match while swiping right signifies interest in the potential match. Also, some individuals can send some pretty creepy messages that they might perceive as funny, but for a girl in her 20s, it is super creepy.

Negatives and creepiness aside, I have had meaningful conversations with people and actually gone on a few dates.
The positive part is that usually there isn’t too much first date awkwardness because you have had the opportunity to talk with them prior by using the instant messaging component of the app and were able to see the common interests you and the other person have.

In the two cases in which I have pursued multiple dates with Tinder matches, they both were in their mid-20s, had well-paying jobs and lived independently and comfortably.

This was refreshing to experience as the impression that I originally had was that people were on the app only to hook up and not to date. With this in mind, when you go to meet a Tinder match, meet in a public place and also tell your friends or roommates where you are going and what time you will come home, just for safety purposes.

The main takeaway that I got from my experience with using Tinder is to never judge a person until you get to know them and to give everyone a chance (as long as they’re not creepy), because you never know if you will learn something new about the other person or about yourself.