Our generation is by far the most socially awkward generation. We spend countless hours behind our phone and computer screens. We rely on the worst possible thing to socialize with the opposite sex, Tinder.
Growing up, we are told that love will find us, that the right one is just out there waiting. The millennialssuck. We are impatient and selfish; we want everything from how we want it, where we want it, and when we want it. The app Tinder is available on iPhone and Android. It presents itself as a game of swiping right on someone's profile if they are attractive and left if they are not. If they swipe right and so does the other party, then the two will be matched and they will be at liberty to message as they please.
There are rules and regulations for Tinder, just as there is for any other form of social networking or dating website. It uses the age connected with a Facebook profile. There is an age limit, but, honestly, almost everyone lied about his or her age back in middle school just so they could have a Facebook. Kids still do that today and it can enable them to use Tinder, which is clearly wrong, right? Right.
There are so many things we don't honestly think about when using apps like Tinder. There are security risks we put ourselves in when using this app. The app has access to our entire lives, your location, your birthday, your work/school, etc. Users also run the risk of meeting someone who isn't the best person; they could be kidnappers, rapists, or murders, but we don't tend to think of those things. This app is thought to be a networking for quick hook-ups in college. The app itself is more popular among young adults than older adults, but that doesn't mean it's just a way to meet the next notch in the bedpost. It is all in how the individual user wishes to use the app.
According to Buzzfeed, Tinder has over 10 million users, daily. That is crazy. Those 10 million people are spending precious minutes of their lives on an app that they wouldn't have to use if they would just go out there and be themselves. On the Internet, we can be whoever we want. We post what we want and oftentimes we don't think of the consequences that entails.
Left or Right?
We, as human beings, are shallow and superficial when it comes to dating. We want the perfect partner, who has just the right body type, hair, eyes, etc. Perfect doesn't exist. This app is making us even shallower: we focus on the six images we are permitted to see of the person and if they don't match the standard we, the individuals, have set for ourselves, then they get a swipe to the left. This is a really crappy concept because so many people have the desire to swipe right on someone, but don't because the fear that the people are out of their league or going to swipe left on them anyway. There is no need for us to beat ourselves up over a stupid app. There is a slim chance someone could meet his or her soul mate on Tinder, but it's highly unlikely. It messes with our self-image and self-esteem. Often, two people who get matched will never speak to each other, and what's the fun in that? That's right, there is none.
Tinder has ruined my generation.
The dating game that people grow up hearing jokes about or seeing on TV is dying. It is coming to an end thanks to apps like Tinder. The "dating apocalypse" has begun and it is inevitable. Tinder has turned normal, college-aged people into shallow, selfish, lazy, fake people with no motivation to try and actually go out and meet someone. It has taught our generation that all that really matters is how attractive someone is. It has also convinced us that sex and cheating is OK. Reality check: it's not.
I hope that my generation realizes how ignorant we are for using this app. I have been a Tinderella looking for my prince in the wrong place. Nothing good came out of it.
Love is out there; we will all find it, just not on Tinder.