Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

34° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Digital Get Down: Tinder sucks

Digital+Get+Down%3A+Tinder+sucks

Up to this point, I’ve only really discussed my take on OkCupid dating. This week, I’ll switch gears and talk about Tinder, an app for hookups, and one of the reasons it sucks.

Tinder pissed me off right off the bat. When I downloaded the app, it asked me to connect to my Facebook, promising to never post there. Call me crazy, but I never trust apps that make such empty promises. Excuse me if I don’t want an app as sleazy as Tinder to pop up in my great aunt’s newsfeed.

Tinder takes your recent Facebook profile photos and uses those on your Tinder profile, but it doesn’t let you pick which photos you want to display until after you finish setup. Then it takes your “likes” so you can see which ones you have in common with matches. If you’re like me, your likes are a series of regrets and disdain that the year 2008 ever existed, because that’s when I, for God knows what reason, decided to like pages such as “Chuck Norris” and “The Cool Side of the Pillow.” So the only real info Tinder provides you with besides how many miles away the person is — usually over 50 because most users near Evanston are in Madison, Wis. — is what likes you have in common, which means absolutely nothing.

Aside from that, the whole premise of Tinder is extremely shallow. It’s akin to the rating system on OkCupid in which if you and another person both give each another four or five stars, you’ll both get an automated message saying “You chose each other!” Except on Tinder, there is little to no “profile” to base your rating on. You look at someone’s pictures and either swipe right to accept the person or left to “nope” them. Then if two people both thought the other worthy of a right swipe, it will alert you so you can start messaging them.

These messages have proven to be even worse than ones I’ve received on OkCupid. It’s almost always a super banal conversation. Only once did I have an interesting exchange with someone, which resulted in me deciding to give him my number. Big mistake, since he texted me three days in a row asking me to “come party with him.” I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve found even the most winning of candidates on Tinder are still super sketchy.

That’s it for my rant on Tinder. Join me next week when I will probably talk about OkCupid again. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you … I’m not single anymore. Thanks, OkCupid!

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881
Digital Get Down: Tinder sucks