Why is everyone at Glasgow too embarrassed to admit they use Tinder?

I couldn’t find a single person in the library who would admit to having it


Tinder is the king of all dating apps, easy, fun and addictive. All you need to do is write a bit about yourself, fish out those rare FB pics where you look semi-datable and you’re good to go.

There are 50 million active Tinder users who spend an average of 90 minutes each day swiping left and right. Even Leonardo DiCaprio has admitted to using it. So why is everyone at Glasgow so ashamed?

The app is supposed to make hooking up and dating people easier and more socially acceptable. However, when I went around the library trying to find people to speak to for another story on Tinder, it proved impossible. Looking scared, offended, or both, the people I asked shook their head as if admitting they owned the well-known app would bring down a curse on their family.

I asked 40 people and each of them said no. One or two genuinely claimed to have no idea what Tinder is. Something just doesn’t add up.

It’s not embarrassing to be single at uni. If you’re single, you’re able to go out and have fun while your coupled-up flatmates are having a cosy take-away night in, AGAIN. Don’t think it’s mortifying to be using a dating app in your teens and early twenties either. It doesn’t mean you’ve given up all hope of ever finding a boyfriend or girlfriend and accepted your future fate as a single OAP with ten cats and a bungalow. Tinder just presents you with more options rather than solely meeting people in a sweaty, dark club – and on the app you can actually see what people look like. Bye, bye bad beer-goggles-fuelled decisions.

To swipe or not to swipe

Tinder simply helps you to meet similar, single (mostly – you get the occasional rogue person whose profile pic is them staring into their bride or groom’s eyes) people you otherwise wouldn’t. That guy you’ve been too nervous to speak to on your course? Give him a swipe right. What about that hotter-than-hot girl you got with in Viper and didn’t see again? Ah, there she is: swipe.

Don’t be scared by Tinder. Yes, some people think it’s just for casual, no-strings-attached flings, but plenty of people have met their current other halves on there. As for me? I’m still swiping left and right, hoping for the best, but I do admit I have it when I’m asked.