It's Valentine's Day, and if you aren't giving roses to someone special β or getting them β you might be thinking ahead to next year.
But OkCupid and Match. These days, whether you're gay or straight, the online dating scene is all about apps. Like a lot of technological change, apps bring efficiency to the process. But that isn't always a good thing. Kristy Vannatter used to use the online dating service eHarmony, but she says it was a lot of work. Most importantly, she didn't find Mr. Then a friend told her about an app called Tinder.
The app lets you say yes or no to profile photos. If you swipe left, it's goodbye. Swipe right and it's hello. Tinder is also free. Tinder user Shawn Dempewolff describes the experience as "dating on steroids. It uses GPS to connect you with people nearby, and it connects to your Facebook page β though, happily for many users, no one on Facebook has to know. Dempewolff says he met a woman and they dated for five months, but it didn't work out.
Tinder claims to make more than 6 million matches a day, and Dempewolff says he finds solace in that. And with Tinder, that comfort can be immediate: The ability to instantly message someone nearby makes it perfect for short liaisons. The year-old travels a lot for work. He isn't looking for a relationship, and he says he regularly finds women like him.
What do you like to do? McCarthy says a lot of women then hint pretty quickly that they're not looking for a relationship. McCarthy says most of his friends use Tinder for quick hookups. In fact, Tinder is modeled like an older app called Grindr that was developed for the gay male community five years ago. Clinton Fein, an artist and technologist, uses it instead of hanging out in bars.
