Tinder: Shameful but Effective

It’s addictive and shallow but there’s no denying that Tinder works, says Bryony Latham

10 years ago | UPDATED 10 years ago

There is no doubt that Tinder has completely revolutionised the way people meet prospective “partners”, whether that be for a quickie on the sly or a few awkward but traditional dates with strangers. Most people’s opinions are on two extreme ends of the spectrum; that it’s either “just a bit of fun” or a trashy way to get laid. But what can’t be denied is that it works!

Whilst being incredibly shallow and simple, Tinder clearly works. More and more people are are “hooking-up” through Tinder, or even sprouting a relationship within the first few weeks of meeting them. So whilst it is criticised for being shallow and based only on looks, Tinder has successfully catered to a generation that is obsessed with self-image.

Tinder is shallow, but who cares?

There is nowhere to hide now that social networking is part of our everyday lives. It’s a rarity that someone admits with pride that they don’t have Facebook, and if they do it raises several eyebrows and provokes a few baffled guffaws. Everyone is judged by how they have represented themselves through their online profiles. The difference with Tinder is that the only information that these strangers have to judge us with is the images we choose.

She’s self-confident

You might start out by sifting through inappropriate profile pics, only to be left with a bunch of semi-respectable and predictable photos that say nothing about your life or your personality. Doesn’t anyone find it odd that our generation is constantly taking snaps of stuff in hope that some person (from somewhere you can’t remember) will like it?

This has definitely got worse with Tinder; the other day I was invited by a mate to a farm so that he could take a few female friendly pics with animals in order to attract a queue of women outside the Tinder doors to his bedroom. Things are getting stupid.

At least it’s mutual.

Tinder has been described as a “no frills version of pulling culture”, where unlike in a seedy club with horny and leery students left, right and centre, it is more of a mutual environment where people are after the same kind of thing: a relationship or sex. Friendship is for pensioners, apparently.

It’s hardly the Hollywood Rom-com method of finding the happily ever after that you’ve fantasised about during your Saturday night dates with Ben and Jerry, but it does indeed prove to be working. Scouting for possible matches has become the thing for singletons to be doing now.

It’s fast, easy, and mutually beneficial. The only downside is coming across a distasteful sod who for some reason thinks that it is appropriate to send a message saying “DTF”. No thank you, that is not appreciated in any reality.

Tinder is addictive.

When faced with a match on Tinder it’s impossible to deny the buzz of excitement and self-confidence that is experienced shortly after. Similar to receiving a like on Facebook, people are reassured that their self-image has been successfully deemed attractive.

But what happens when you’ve been sending likes to a load of busty bachelorettes and horny hunks but received no matches? It’s hard not to wonder what where you’re going wrong. In fact, it can lead to people feeling really deflated about their self-image.

It can either ruin or boost your self-image

Steve Hipkins, a 3^rd year student who regularly uses Tinder said: ‘My housemate deleted it for a while because she was feeling disheartened by it. But later on she got it back and got a date.’

So however dazzling your personality may be, it is completely irrelevant for finding love on Tinder. It places an excessive importance on appearance, which unfortunately means that people can experience extreme highs or lows determined by how many matches they get in a day.

Unfortunately it is allowing people to be extremely judgemental and nick picky in respect to who they want to date. It encourages shallow judgements which won’t be confined to our smartphones and will continue to seep into our daily lives to the point where we’re all worrying constantly about what we look like in Portland or Hallward (as if that isn’t happening already). But it can’t be denied that it’s working.