If the Tinder app is an unfamiliar concept, let me break it down. “Are you an appendix? I don’t know how you work, but I have a feeling I need to take you out.” That was just one of the many creepy pick-up lines I received while I had a Tinder.

Tinder is a dating app that uses Facebook and a location to match up an endless amount of people who also use Tinder. Since it is linked with a personal Facebook account, a lot of the time the individual will have mutual friends with the people they are matched up with.

Users of the app are displayed with a picture of a man or woman along with their name and age. If the user is not interested in the presented match, they will swipe left for “NO NEVER HAPPENING.” However, if the user is interested in the presented match (thinks they are really hot) then the user will swipe right meaning they will have the potential to message if the person they liked, likes them back.

So basically what we have here is a dating app where people establish some type of relationship, however weird it is, purely based on their appearances. 

I have always found it hard to believe  when couples say they met on Tinder, but believe it or not, it happens. However, many people treat Tinder as a joke and people end up getting one because it is a fun game to judge people you don’t know based on their funny looks and ridiculous pick-up lines.  

I’ll be the first to admit that when I’m bored I will sit on the couch and spend an hour on Tinder making fun of all the different guys I see. It is great because no one will ever know if you swiped left when his or her picture came up, it’s confidential.

This is exactly why it seems ridiculous to even consider using Tinder for serious dating. Most people are talking to multiple Tinder users at a time and it is more than likely that all Tinder users are having very similar conversations. Start out with a pick-up line, attempt to find out some basic facts about the person, flirt a little and then see where it goes. 

We as college students already spend too much time on social media apps and mostly communicate through text. We don’t call on the phone very often or even socialize in person, so why do we need something else to inhibit ourselves from in-person interactions? 

This isn’t to say that people who meet on Tinder don’t ever hang out in person.  They do. Hanging out after meeting on Tinder is like going on a blind date. And since Tinder is considered more of a casual dating site, you’re not likely going to start something serious or meaningful.

Most of us can recognize that the dating scene has changed a lot because of our tech-savvy generation, and not necessarily for the better. Maybe I’m old fashioned or behind the times, but I think it would be really nice if people just tried to meet and get to know each other in person 

Lets slow down the Tinder-ing hype and try out real life interactions. Imagine that amazingly random moment where you bump into someone in the library, or meet at a party and have an instant connection. You might miss a moment like that spending your time staring at your phone checking to see if you have any new Tinder matches. There are so many ways to start dating, why does a shallow app like Tinder need to be one of them?