I have a strong love-hate relationship for Tinder. Here's what I've learned from my years on Tinder.

1. It’s great for traveling.

When I travel anywhere for at least a month, I use Tinder to meet locals, and they take me traveling to new places. It's super efficient to see a city all the way through - with companionship as a bonus. The only downside is that when you leave the city, you leave them. Don't get attached, or that can hurt.

2. Real friendships can be made.

Shoutout to my friends who I met on Tinder and are reading this.

3. Lots of people use it for rebound.

I've had so many people tell me they just got out of a relationship (within the first few messages they send me). It's kind of sad, but I do believe it makes a breakup easier so I sympathize. On the other hand, I wouldn't mess with these people since they're not really prepared for getting into something new.

4. It becomes mentally draining.

The cycle of swiping, meeting up with people, unmatching them, and repeating becomes so draining. I've been at the point where I felt so emotionally numb that I didn't want to meet or talk to another Tinder person and ended up deleting the app - only to redownload it not too long after.

5. No one is the same as their profile.

NO ONE I have met has either looked exactly like their profile pictures or acted exactly how they seemed in their bio. Beware. Make sure to meet a person early on to make sure they're like how they are online.

6. Catfishes are more common than you think.

So are fatfishes. It's not just girls, it's guys too.

7. Don’t give things away.

There's the horror story of the girl whose bio was "Send me $5 and see what happens ;)" and what happened was she probably took the money and unmatched them. Besides that, a bunch of people I met tried to cop as much free stuff as they could off of me. I've had someone take swigs of my expensive alcohol, take my suitemate's hot sauce, and had me cook for them without compensating me for the ingredients. People are not cool.

8. You will be recognized and recognize people.

I've been recognized at too many tailgates and parties by guys I ghosted. It's super awkward.

9. Don’t do anything weird unless you’re 100% sure you won’t bump into them in person.

I've said and done some weird things.

10. It’s addicting as hell and you will delete and redownload it many times.

You hate it and then you love it. You need it and sometimes you need to delete it. It fluctuates with your ups and downs in life, and your mind continuously wanders to using it.

11. It makes you more narcissistic.

Tinder is honestly one of the most shallow apps out there. You swipe on others just because of how they look, and you put your best pictures on there to get as many people interested in you as you can. You swallow up compliments and love to see super likes and new Instagram followers because of it. It made me more confident in myself, but also more superficial.

12. You become good with questions.

After a while, you narrow down exactly what small talk works and what doesn't. I'm at the point where I have a mental list of questions to ask that could carry a conversation for hours. I once went on a date for a few hours, and the guy told me I gutted him so deep that I knew more about him than his ex girlfriend did. F*ck yeah.