Tinder: Genius invention or creepiest concept ever?

Is Tinder socially unacceptable or a perfectly sensible way to meet your match?

| UPDATED

Tinder is the dating app sweeping (or swiping) the nation. What started as a humble dating app has developed into a craze, as addictive as Flappy Birds, better procrastination than Buzzfeed and powerful enough to make or break your self esteem. But amidst all the banter that goes with trying out your best lines and left swiping your friends, we seem to have overlooked the fact that Tinder is really, really weird. We take a look at the ins and outs of Tinder: the good, the bad and the downright creepy.

 What’s it about?

You input your gender, your sexuality, your location/how far you are willing to travel to get laid and how old/young you like your prey to be. Then Tinder’s complex algorithms work their magic and present a plethora of willing singles in your area. Profiles contain a little “About me” section, a choice of photos and shared interests or friends. Then, dependent on how much said singleton has wowed you in 4 pictures and about 12 words, you either swipe left (NOPE) or right (LIKE). If a mutual right-swipe occurs, you’ve got a match!

Then things get weirder. You can message your match, testing out your chat up lines and flirting skills on a complete stranger. If you click, you may choose to meet this person. Seems legit, and totally safe…

Why is it good?

1. A great distraction from work as it takes absolutely zero brainpower. All you need is a pair of eyes and the ability to move one finger about an inch either way. In that respect it’s much better for your blood pressure than Flappy Birds or Quizup- stress-free procrastination.

2. It can boost your self-esteem, provided you’re willing to overlook the fact that people are judging you purely on your appearance and the subsequent compliments you receive from matches are most likely a line to get into your virtual pants. Still, who doesn’t like being told they’re hot?

Original

3. Great banter potential. You can start some hilarious conversations with people and really test online social boundaries.

Great chat

Why is it shit?

1. It is quite possibly the shallowest concept ever. People literally swipe you to one side if they don’t like your face. Ouch.

2. It is also very voyeuristic. Spending a fair amount of time every day just looking at pictures of strangers is quite creepy, when you think about it.

3. People are really weird. A friend of mine ended up getting the number of a girl he met on Tinder, who then proceeded to repeatedly suggest she visited (from 150 miles away), drunk-texted him some quite frankly FILTHY things then called him some disgraceful words when he let her down gently. In joining Tinder, you expose yourself to all the bunny boilers of the world. Beware.

Harsh

4. People are really MEAN. If you reject someone, be prepared for an onslaught. As with any online interactions, the keyboard warriors come out, so just be prepared to face some nastiness.

5. Some members do this really annoying thing where they use it to get twitter followers. If you have to use other apps to boost your twitter fame, or even care about twitter fame at all, reassess your life.

Err how about no

6. In terms of online security it’s far from ideal. Someone can locate you within 1km (that’s not much) and it is linked to Facebook; and we all know that’s not the most secure location with which to store information.

7. The fact it is so popular with people at university age that should probably be at their social peak, meeting new people every day in drunken, perfect for pulling circumstances, is quite unnerving. For those taking the app seriously, can you really not meet someone in person, the old-fashioned way? On a more serious note, the fact that there was supposedly a gap in the market for a dating app aimed at 18-30 year olds is a little worrying.

What’s the verdict?

Avoid. There are more normal, less creepy and less voyeuristic ways of fulfilling your need for banter, self-esteem boosting and affection. Maybe try going out.

Take our poll and let us know whether you’d use Tinder or would rather die alone with five hundred cats.