"Tinder" app spreads like wildfire
Tinder, an iPhone dating application that is less than six months old, “anonymously finds out who likes you nearby, and connects you with them if you're also interested,” according to the app's description in Apple’s app Store.
Once you log into Tinder through Facebook, you are shown profiles of other Tinder users within a customized radius of 10 to 100 miles. Then the game begins when you begin to rate other Tinder users you are interested in. If someone you’ve “liked” likes you back, you are each notified and can chat within the app.
On the heels of the popularity of Snapchat, Tinder seems to be the latest talk of the town on campus. Dartmouth students have had mixed reactions to the app.
“It's so easy — you’re just like right, right, left, right, left, left.” Daniel Calano '15 said as he flicked his fingers over an imaginary screen, mimicking the way users sort through potential matches. Drag a profile to the right, and the app records it as a “like.” Drag a profile to the left to discard it.
"It's almost as if it’s a game and you are just trying to press the right buttons," Molly Crowe ’15 said, who has been using Tinder for about a week.
Cam Crage ’15, who had been using Tinder for about four days at the time of interview says he has had four matches, but has only chatted with one of them.
“She’s not a Dartmouth student,” Crage said. “[She’s] 64 miles away. I don’t know anything about her.”
Crage indicated that his match’s spelling of “yourself” as “yourselfff” in their conversation let him know that she was definitely interested. He told her about how he was stuck babysitting Gamma Delta Chi fraternity’s puppy.
“I also lie,” Crage said. “But I had to use the puppy.”
"When I'm drunk I spend a little bit more time on Tinder," Crage said of his activity. “When I'm inebriated or tired I'm a lot more lenient [when liking profiles]."
Inevitably, setting your radius to a smaller distance means you will be matched with other Dartmouth students.
"It’s awkward when people pop up that you may know from a distance or that you are friends with and [dating] is just not in the dynamic of your relationship," Crowe said.
Crage said that he found it awkward when one of his matches was a friend’s girlfriend.
For Crowe, "the app is just for fun. I'm not expecting to get results from it."
Most students, like Crowe, don't seem to take Tinder too seriously.
“I would probably get it next week just for fun, if I was bored,” Grace Ma ’15 said. “I don't have any intention of legitimately using it.”
On the other hand, Crowe said that she has heard of some Dartmouth athletes getting their non-Dartmouth Tinder matches to attend their sports games.
It seems that students’ encounters on Tinder have ranged from the mundane to the outright bizarre.
