“Oh my gosh, did you see who is on Tinder?!”
Go ahead, lie and say you’ve never overheard or thought about it yourself. Chances are you, or a friend has had a Tinder account. Tinder seems almost as mainstream as Snapchat and Instagram these days; it’s even referred to as a ‘social media dating app’ in the literature. And why do so many of us use this app?
Statistically, most people on Tinder want to have fun and meet people (Griffin et al., 2018); Kallis describes Tinder as an ‘adult playground’ in Understanding the Motivations for Using Tinder (2020). The experts say Tinder is fun, but is it really all that fun?
Unpopular opinion: Tinder is not fun. Tinder is stressful. Some might even go so far to describe Tinder as toxic. Isn’t meeting a stranger off of a dating app providing little to no information about the stranger in question stressful?
Absolutely ridiculous.
In order to combat the stress of meeting a stranger off of a dating app, I propose Tinder invest in a system to allow the individual to gain ‘verification status’ by verifying their identity with pictures. This would work because people will not lie. Oh, wait, this already exists? I’ll say it again: Tinder is stressful, and so are all these other social media apps.
A profile barely communicates anything about a person. With a myriad of filters at the ready, people can undoubtedly be quite artistic with designing their profile. Typically, I am all for creativity, but I don’t celebrate it in this facet. Filters are fun when you’re using them but stressful when you’re on the outside looking in. This stress of conceptualizing a person from a warped profile doesn’t end with Tinder; it bleeds into all social media platforms.
The only way to combat this stress is to take a break. Put the phone down, for crying out loud. It’s good to take a break from the crazy world of social media and be more present. Worry less about the person behind the profile or how you look behind your own. Delete your Tinder, delete your Instagram, delete Snapchat. Go outside and enjoy the Grove. — Abby Klein
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