A new app addiction is sweeping campus, and to play you only need to make one decision:swipe left or right? Tinder isn’t technically a game, but a “hookup app.” This kind of app, which took off with the creation of the gay- oriented Grindr in 2009, fuses basic human need with 21st century technology. You can find everything else through an app, so why not sex? Released last year, Tinder’s simple interface contributes to its popularity. Based on pictures and shared inter- ests, users swipe left to reject or swipe right to indicate interest. If both users swipe right for each other, they have the option to chat. After that, anything can happen. And for Northwestern students, it frequently does. North by Northwestern talked to four students about their opinions, strategies and experiences in this new realm of online dating.
Misha Kushnir
“You can say what you want... Worst comes to worst, you never see or talk to that person again,” says McCormick junior Misha Kushnir, a selfdescribed “prolific Tinderer.” ”Half the fun of it is just saying absolutely ridiculous stuff.”
What’s Kushnir’s most outrageous line?
“‘I want to paint you green and spank you like a disobedient avocado,’” he recites. “Some people really liked it. Others didn’t know how to respond.”
Thanks to his Tinder prowess, friends often approach Kushnir asking for advice. He just shares the philosophy he’s learned from Tinder.
“Just have fun,” Kushnir says. “Don’t get too worked up over things. Whatever happens, happens.”
Sarah Bruyere
Sarah Bruyere isn’t looking for love. For the Weinberg freshman, Tinder is just another iPhone game.
“It definitely started out as a joke,” Bruyere says. “The pictures I put up were real pictures of me, but they were unattractive pictures. One was where my hair was Photoshopped off, and I look like I’m bald. Another was a really unattractive selfie I took of myself after I got my wisdom teeth taken out.”
Bruyere’s strategy is as unique as her photos: She always swipes right. In four months, she’s accumulated 2,000 matches. But Bruyere says she’ll never find a relationship through Tinder.
“When you’re meeting with someone on Tinder, you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You can’t see if they’re honest, or hardworking,” she says. “Values to me matter more than shared interests. That’s something you definitely can’t get from Tinder. For me, Tinder is the least romantic thing in the world.”
Blake Disiere
Tinder isn’t always sordid. Sometimes, it’s the digital equivalent of Cinderella’s lost slipper. That fairy tale came true for Weinberg sophomore Blake Disiere, who matched with his girlfriend over the summer.
“We started texting, phone calls, Skype,” he recalls. “Once I’d gone up here after the summer, then we met up and started dating.”
Disiere believes online communication reveals the real person inside.
“You learn more about the person, about who they are and their personality–as opposed to how they act and their mannerisms, that you’d be pretty concerned with if you met them in person,” he says. “Tinder really brings out the idea that you need to start liking someone for who they are.”
Of course, in order to be matched at all, users judge their potential matches based on looks.
“That’s the same in any situation,” Disiere says. “You wouldn’t go up to someone in a bar who you didn’t find attractive.”
Hale
“I’ve heard people talk about how when you’re gay, dating is like finding a job. You either have to get a connection through a friend or find it online,” says Hale*, a Communication freshman. Hale chose the latter route, with accounts on both Tinder and Grindr.
While neither has resulted in a relationship, Hale has gotten a few good stories.
“Over spring break I had a very nice, smart conversation with a gay porn star who I recognized on Grindr,” Hale says. “He was on a train, passing through my town when he came through my radius. It was not vulgar. I asked him if people recognize him. He said he seldom ever responds to anyone, especially because he hardly ever uses it. But when people ask him for photos, he just tells people to Google him.”