Tinder – A Very Modern Matchmaker

It’s a match! This is the message that appears on the screens of two hopeful users on the dating application ‘Tinder’ when they have both ‘swiped right’ on each other’s profiles.

Now they are free to chat and arrange their date. A modern method of matchmaking? Most definitely. Romantic? Debatable. Useful in a day and age where most people spend a large percentage of the day glued to their phone and social scenarios have become progressively less spontaneous? Perhaps. 

Euro Weekly News decided to investigate further into this alluring application for finding a partner, which in recent years has seemingly taken the world by storm and changed the dating game forever. 

What is Tinder?

Tinder was first founded in 2012 as a mobile phone application that allows its users to browse profiles of potential romantic interests in their local area. These profiles contain a few photos and a short bio, alongside a section to briefly write about interests or hobbies. To connect with a person, swipe right on their profile, if they are not your cup of tea, swipe left and a new profile immediately appears. The app uses a ‘double opt in system’ where both users must like each other before they can exchange messages. As of 2023 Tinder has reported that it has over 75 million active users. 

Does it work

After more than 65 billion matches being recorded worldwide since Tinder’s launch, the burning question must be, “but does it actually work?”. We spoke to Carolina Daktaraite from Lithuania who told EWN that after living in many different European countries, she downloaded the app back in 2015 in the hopes of finding connections. “Well first of all I actually put my interests as men AND women because as well as dating I was also interested in making friends. First of all I met an English girl who had also just moved to the area and we went out to party. The funny thing is we are now still best friends eight years later!” Carolina then revealed the even more surprising story that “then I met a boy on there who I thought would just be fun to go out with, now we are engaged to be married and have two children! It’s crazy, two of the closest people in my life came from Tinder”. Incredible, however a contrasting account came from German woman, Julia Huber, aged 28. She explained to us that the dating app is “basically just used for hookups. The people on there, especially the men, are not serious about falling in love or anything like that, they just want easy access and a fun time”. This view was seconded by professional model Sasha Sheikh who told Euro Weekly News that her experience with Tinder was a “waste of time” and did not yield any fruitful results. EWN also spoke to a Swiss Lawyer, who prefers not to be named but proclaimed himself as a ‘Tinder expert’ and hailed the app as a “gold mine for love in all of its forms”. 

Evolving application

The basis of Tinder has not changed since its creation, however the app is constantly evolving and adding new features for users to enjoy. One such feature is that of ‘matchmaker’, a tool which allows family and friends to ‘sign off’ on potential love matches. We came back to Carolina, who obviously no longer uses the app but said that this seems like a ‘cool feature’. When asked if she thinks that her family and friends would have digitally approved of her current fiancé when she met him on the app, she told us, “yes I think they would have clicked yes, I actually showed his profile to my friend who told me to go and meet him! I think many people were already doing that, asking their friends what they thought, it’s nice they’ve now made it an official thing”. Julia Huber on the other hand was horrified by the idea that her parents might monitor her dating. “That sounds like hell”, she declared, “my mother would choose the most boring guy and my father would be hunting down men who had ghosted me after one date!”. 

Terrible tales

The ‘Tinder Swindler’ is a true crime documentary that appeared on Netflix in 2022 and immediately captured the interest of the world. The story follows various women that were conned by a man who’s profile contained nothing but lies, resulting in devastating outcomes for them. With a running time of 1 hour 54 minutes, it was watched for 166 million hours in its first 28 days. Lauren Lee, aged 35, who has lived in over 16 countries and used Tinder for the past ten years, recounted to us that there have been “so many times where the person turns up and they look nothing like their photo. Or they say they are six foot two but they are actually five foot eight”. Many news reports have also emerged in recent years of Tinder dates resulting in violence, and even murder. British backpacker, Grace Millane, was killed in 2018 after meeting a man whom she had swiped right on within the app, and Liam Smith, a 38 year old father of two, was brutally murdered by his Tinder date and her boyfriend back in 2019. Yes, you read that last part correctly. 

Lazy lovers

Alongside the obvious dangers to personal safety, are there any other problematic factors with this seemingly innovative and efficient approach to finding love? Relationship expert Carmela Diaz, who is originally from Spain but now resides in the UK explained to us that Tinder can be extremely damaging to the “sacred roles in a relationship”. She went on to explain that “it has destroyed that delicious element of the unknown, whatever happened to the chase? Or the bravery of walking up to somebody who has caught your eye, not knowing if they will accept your invitation or not? It has made lovers lazy now”, she stated. Social skills are also in danger of being affected. With modern day technology luring more and more people into isolation, is Tinder just another vice of distraction that slowly turns the original sensitive human into a cold, metal robot? Mental health and wellness professional, Inoah Diaz, argues against this point. She explained to Euro Weekly News that “modern humans must move in rhythm with the world rather than resist it” and “it doesn’t matter how love and connections are formed, the methods will always change, what does not change is love”. 

With opinions from both ends of the spectrum, the verdict on Tinder seems to be left to personal choice, and in this world that can sometimes feel full of anger and war, surely the pursuit of love is an everlasting light among dark clouds, whatever form that pursuit might take on. 

What is your experience with the app? Would you consider using this modern method to find ‘the one’?