The Tinder Debate
In case you haven't heard Tinder is a hugely popular online dating app, that has attracted a lot of attention for its seemingly controversial nature. To sum up how Tinder works: You decide whether you find someone physically attractive based on pics they have uploaded; if you like them you swipe right, if not you swipe left. If you both swipe right then you are able to message one another privately.
The nature of this dating app has continuously come under fire for being shallow and basing attraction entirely on the way a person looks. Add this to the feature being nicknamed 'the hook up' or 'casual sex' app and you begin to understand the negativity surrounding it.
However my only previous knowledge of the app was an article I read in Cosmo about the Sex & the Single Girl columnist who was ending her column as she had met her boyfriend and fallen in love.. through Tinder.
Now in January 2015 I found myself single and ready to begin dating again; however it began to dawn on me that the men in the area in which I live are not exactly for me. I decided I wanted to meet someone new with no mutual friends in common. A fresh start, so to speak. As I lay in bed that Sunday evening, contemplating how I was ever going to meet a guy who wasn't a drunken mess and struggling to stand in a bar. I vaguely remembered hearing about Tinder and it being a dating app etc. I figured I really had nothing to lose, and if nothing else it would ease me back into the whole dating game again.
As I began flicking through the numerous pictures of random men, I must admit I had mixed feelings about the situation. It wasn't long before I matched with a few guys and started chatting etc but no one really stuck in my mind. As a week or so passed I had found myself engaged in conversation with a few guys and very little evidence to back up these 'awful' experiences that people claim to have on Tinder. By mid Feb however, my 'date' for the evening cancelled last minute and I began to lose faith in the nature of Tinder. This night in question was also to be the night which changed my view of the app for good. In a good way.
Shortly after my last minute cancellation had occurred I got a Tinder message from Michael, we got chatting and seemed to click pretty well. Three days later and our conversation was still going and we had arranged a date.
One date turned into another and by our third date, I had pretty much fallen for him. 6 months on, we are getting ready for our first holiday together and looking forward to a lovely future. People may be quick to dismiss Tinder but my own experience of it was very different. I met an amazing guy, who has changed my life in so many incredible ways.
So there you have it, no casual sex, deceit or married men. Just a happy ending.. or more appropriately, a happy beginning.
My advice to anyone using this app is to not listen to other people's views, build your own through experience. Obviously be safe, but don't assume every person on there is after the same thing.
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