Technology has altered many facets of social interaction, including (and especially) dating. Smartphones have made us more accessible than ever before, allowing us to connect with anybody, anywhere in the world, at any time. Social media has also made it easier for others to learn about us before we’ve ever met.
The advent of online dating and mobile dating sites has dramatically changed the dating landscape. Compared to the conventional approach to dating, dating apps like Tinder have introduced a broad range of pros and cons.
The ways in which many of us find relationships and, more importantly, the kind of partners we want have evolved. Consider the online dating site Tinder, a dating app that allows you to find local singles interested in meeting up for drinks, dinner, or just about any activity you can think of. Tinder, for many, has ushered in a new era of dating optimism.
Like game mechanics, you move to the following person when you like them, and they don’t want you. If you are lucky enough to receive single or multiple matches after every rejection, there is no need to be afraid of failing.
The odds in this numerical contest are in your favor, so keep playing until you succeed. The downside is that potential relationships may seem less important to you because you realize there are more potential partners out there. If you can find ten suitable companions, why settle for just one? Similarly, if you have your pick of potential romantic interests, why limit yourself to just one?
Tinder’s impact on relationships and society is marked; there is no doubt about that. We will look at both the pros and cons of Tinder below!
Pros
Being taught that we shouldn’t talk without having anything nice to add, we figured it would be polite to begin by listing the pros of Tinder.
- Tinder’s massive membership is spread over 190 countries, with the United States being home to the site’s biggest user base and the United Kingdom coming in a distant second. Tinder should be considered if your primary objective in the dating world is to maximize your pool of potential partners. This allows people all over the world to connect and interact with one another–something that was hard to do before the advent of dating sites like Tinder! Facilitating casual or serious relationships between people who would have never crossed paths if not for Tinder is a big pro in our book.
- There aren’t many dating sites that can compete with Tinder when it relates to casual dating. Finding a better place to meet a potential casual date is difficult. Remember, however, that when we state casual, we mean incredibly casual, veering dangerously close to the site’s reputation (fair or unfair) for being hookup central. Now, if you aren’t as open about your sexuality as others, you may see this as a con, but not us. We are sex-positive, and if you feel like you just want to have a physical encounter with no strings attached? Tinder DID that. They made it possible and easier than sitting on a barstool at a local watering hole and hoping that someone who isn’t too unattractive saunters in and strikes up a conversation.
- Tinder’s proximity-based matching algorithm is hard to beat while you’re on the road. If you usually get matches in California but are now on vacation in Montana, you will automatically begin receiving matches from Montana. Tinder is a great option if you’re planning to travel a lot or want to meet new people while away from home. Meeting people from all over the country and overseas by utilizing a dating site? Big pro. HUGE.
- Some dating sites, particularly ones meant for more serious relationships, require some time to set up, while Tinder literally takes two minutes to sign up. To join some other dating sites, you must first submit a detailed profile, then complete a matching quiz, and finally, go through a verification process. While there are certain drawbacks to not having this, many users appreciate how little work is involved in getting everything up and running. Never in history has it been so easy to create something that could change your love life–we consider being able to make a dating profile in under five minutes to find potential love or whatever else you fancy a positive indeed.
- Although many paid features are available on Tinder, it’s cool that you can use the dating site for free and still do a lot of vital stuff like send and receive messages. Sure, there are limits to what you can do, but even so, this is much better than some dating sites give users a free version. You can meet people from anywhere for free??? That is being filed in the “pro” column.
Cons
Now that we’ve spoken of all the pros of Tinder, we’ll talk about some of the cons and how they impact relationships and society.
- Tinder’s entire mutual-match algorithm is quite neat— the system works like this: members are shown other members, and they choose in private whether or not they’re interested in talking to them. A “match” occurs when two users express interest in one another and are then alerted and given the option to begin communicating with one another. Yet, a growing trend among users is to “like” (swipe right) all of their local matches before unmatching those they’re not interested in. As a result, the system is broken for everyone else since they got their hopes up about a potential match when they later found out the other person wasn’t really interested. Yeesh, this is that gaming thing we talked about above. This impacts the trust of people who thought someone was interested in them, only to realize it may not have been the case. That will definitely lead to hurt feelings and could lead to distrust if it happens over and over again. This is a glaring con of Tinder–although it is not exclusive to Tinder as a dating site.
- A person who wants to be dishonest can easily create a fake profile thanks to the site’s easy sign-up procedure and few requirements–this is where the dreaded catfish comes into play. Now, catfish are all over the internet, so it’s not exclusive to Tinder, but it is a problem nonetheless. As a society, we are basically taught to believe someone when they tell us who they are because why would they lie? And why on earth would they set up an entire dating profile with someone else’s picture and made-up information? The ease with which one can create an entirely fake persona to fool another person is a huge drawback, and if it happens to a person, it will degrade their trust not just in online dating but in humans in general.
Final Thoughts
There are good and bad ways in which Tinder has affected relationships and society. Tinder and other online dating sites have simplified the dating process and helped many singles meet new friends, lovers, and romantic partners.
As a result of using dating apps, many women feel pressured to engage in casual sexual encounters and put up with verbal abuse, negative remarks, and judgments that stunt the development and closeness of relationships.
The definition of dating is changing due to the rise of online dating, and this has both good and bad consequences for the development of healthy relationships among people both online and off–it’s definitely a mixed bag.
