Meet the people who spend hours swiping left and right but have never gone on a Tinder date

‘I mean I have a girlfriend but sometimes flick through’


Tinder can apparently help you meet your soulmate. But how many people simply treat it as a game?

They’re attractive, witty but they just don’t use it to hook-up. The swipe left, swipe right, and yeah, when you get super liked, feels like a bizarre virtual reality where you get compliments without having to actually see anyone. You can choose your best photo and look incredible, while simultaneously judging everyone you see for what they look like. The Tab spoke to men and women who have all had Tinder for over a year and have never actually been on a date.

When you use it as a time waster

You know the feeling when you’re stuck in a lecture without a Powerpoint, or on the world’s slowest train. Tinder can be the ultimate time waster for those of us who have nothing else to do. Mared, 20, from Cardiff said: “I mainly just use it to chat to people when I’m bored. The day a guy intrigues me enough on Tinder to actually date him will be a great one. I’ll probably end up marrying him.”

It helps you get over your crappy ex

If you like the saying ‘if you can’t get over someone, get under them’, Tinder is sort of a virtual reality way of getting under someone without having to go out and get dressed, and then undressed. Hannah, 20, from Fife said that after she broke up with her boyfriend she used it “to take my mind off things. It was a nice confidence boost getting lots of matches but I wasn’t taking it too seriously cos I wasn’t over my ex.”

You don’t know what you want

It’s hard to know what you’re looking for. Long-term, three-night stand, someone to vent to? Caroline, 23, from New York uses Tinder selectively, and if they don’t pique her interest, she doesn’t have to do anything about it. She said: “I haven’t felt the need to meet with anyone on it lately, but I still swipe sometimes. even if they message I usually don’t answer anymore…unless they seem super interesting.”

When you’re feeling low and need a compliment

There’s nothing better than when someone tells you that you looks nice. Amy, 20, from Princeton, NJ said that “Tinder is a game of validation.” She said “I’d swipe right on everyone to see how many liked me back. With my friends at High School, we would match with old men. Tinder gives me a lot of validation. I’m a total narcissist, so I love compliments, and people on Tinder are seriously just full of them. Tinder isn’t about hooking up, it’s about feeling good about yourself.”

It’s mostly full of creeps you don’t want to meet

Francesca, 21, from London has never gone on a date from Tinder, despite having it since last July. “You can never be sure who you’re meeting. It’s just a harmless game.”

‘For the banter’

Jack, 20, from Glasgow has never had a date from it because he has a girlfriend. According to him, it’s “just for shits and gigs. I’ve no intention of being with anyone else.”

When it’s fun but makes you feel a bit gross after

Daisy, 24, from London uses Tinder to look at what’s on offer. “I kind of liked it just to get some matches/ chat to some guys but I never really wanted to take it much further than that. I’ve actually ended up getting with some guys from there, but only because we already kind of knew each other before so there was never a ‘date’.” She says afterwards it can make you feel a bit “ick” and it isn’t always worth going past the stage of just a game.

People watching

Cassie, 20, from Santa Barbara uses Tinder to window shop. “I would never actually talk or meet up with people on it. I would just hang out and swipe and it was like people watching without having to leave the house.”

Erica, 21, from Pittsburg Pennsylvania had an interesting take on Tinder. “It became a funny game where every time I met with my friend he would go through my matches and just be an ass to them. He kept conversations with some of them for days! I would read them in my spare time just to laugh.”