Dating app Tinder craze on campus

contributed photo.

Want to find that really cute kid in your Chemistry class that talked to you last week? Try Tinder, a free and socially acceptable dating application for your smartphone.

Tinder has swept through many college campuses since its launch date last September. It allows users to find single people in the area that the user may or may not be attracted to.

Tinder is able to connect directly through Facebook and create a mini profile, allowing others to access information and pictures that the user would like them to see.

After creating a profile, users are then able to list their interests. Friends and then have that information sent out to other Tinder users may “relate” it.

Once all of this is complete, the users are given men or women who they could potentially be compatible with.

Users are able to tell the app whether they are interested in that particular person by hitting an “X” for no and move on, or a heart for yes. Tinder, in other words, is the new way of saying “hot or not.”

If two people end up liking each other on Tinder, the users have the option of “chatting” with that person.

“Tinder sounds like the latest development in an ongoing transformation of dating culture that technology is playing a key role in. Given the enormous popularity of online matchmaking sites, an app like Tinder was probably inevitable,” said Communication professor Dr. Michael Serazio.

According to the Business Insider, “Tinder was founded by four entrepreneurs: Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, Jonathan Badeen and Christopher Gulczyns. It recently launched on a few college campuses and it seems to be making the rounds.”

According to TechCrunch, “more than 35 million profiles have been rated on the app and one million matches have been made in less than two months.”

Tinder is popular on college campuses because it has the ability to find someone close in location that users may share similar interests with, such as Wild Rice or 16 Handles on Fairfield University’s campus, and then match people, rather than being matched with a complete and random stranger.

Due to the fact that Tinder is also linked to Facebook, it finds people who are legitimate rather than someone who is not. Since both users must “like” each other on this app, it is able to add some privacy so messages and chats cannot just be started up among random people.

Serazio believes that much of the appeal of this app comes from “reducing the risk of rejection that might otherwise accompany approaching a stranger in that regard.”

Sophomore Caroline Suprenant said, “Although this app is kind of creepy, I happen to like it because I can find other people who are similar to me and then try and get to know them better on campus. It’s the new way to date.”

Other students at Fairfield said that they would never want to be a part of such a “creepy app.” Tom McNeely ’15 said, “The app is just weird. People should just meet and talk the old fashion way rather than meeting online. It is ruining our communication skills.”

Professor Serazio believes, “Striking up a conversation or asking someone out on a date is, of course, an unnerving situation, so this could, in theory, lead to fewer awkward situations and hurt feelings. But that depends on how (and how much) young people use the app.”

Read Carolyn Kosewski’s recent Mirror article on Tinder here.