Tinder

By Thomas Ferro & Sully Sullins

Over the years, our cultural values have shifted and changed countless times. Specifically, our values concerning relationships and dating. Our society has evolved from a culture that emphasizes the importance of marriage to an easy-going hook-up culture. The timeline of this evolution is simple to follow if we look at current dating websites and apps. The app Tinder exemplifies the huge switch in dating norms culture has undergone and influences society with its promise that a relationship is as simple as the swipe of a finger.

In the past, dating was highly formal. Courtship was the main means of starting a relationship with your crush. It included quite a few steps. A gentleman caller interested in a woman dated her for the sole purpose of future marriage. The first date became a special event and a required chaperone followed the couple everywhere they went on their outing. Once the woman had consented to the man courting her, she was said to be “spoken for.” Women started courting as soon as they came of age, which was typically around their early teen years. Women might have had negative things to say about the men they were courting, but the arrangements usually continued regardless of their input. The father and mother decided the daughters’ futures.

The definition of dating has gradually changed over the many years and become more informal. The growth of an entertainment culture (movies, music, dancing, theatre, etc.) may have caused this. Dating (or courting) was no longer something done in private, but in public spaces. In addition, the number of people you dated (or courted) before you got married has grown tremendously. Before, you typically married the first person you courted. Nowadays, people put no limit on their number of partners before marriage. A long-term relationship is also not valued as highly as it once was. Today’s couple may call it quits after a few months. This casual relationship ideal comes from the lack of desire for marriage. Men and women today feel marriage is equivalent to being “tied down” rather than loving someone so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with them. These feelings have translated into a society interested more in one-night stands than the sacred wedding night.

This present hook-up culture is the audience Tinder, a free dating app, attempts to reach. The app makes relationships a simple three-step process. Swipe to the right on someone’s profile, wait for them to swipe right on yours, and then the two of you can start chatting away. Unlike other dating sites, Tinder’s profiles only consist of a maximum of six pictures, as well as a short bio that you write yourself. You can also connect Tinder to your Facebook and your Instagram so that people can get somewhat of a better idea of who you are. Gaining permission from a girl’s father or establishing a friendship with the other person first have become passe in today’s society, and apps such as Tinder consider these improvements.

Yet, virtual introductions and matches come with dangerous long-term effects. Tinder may seem that it is building relationships and a few people may credit it with finding true and lasting romance, but what does the app say about our culture? If our social cues and only method of interacting with others emerge from our phones and computers, it is little wonder why modern-day relationships end up in the toilet. With the small amount of information Tinder allows you to provide on your profile, you are matching with people based on almost no information at all. The “hit-it-and-quit-it” tones of Tinder and other dating apps seem to explain why single-mother households and divorces are common in society. Tinder may also be an unintentional proponent of rape culture with its epidemic of unsolicited “dick pics.” It is true that Tinder has produced real, lasting relationships, but those are exceptions. Tinder, as a whole, is reinforcing a “hook-up” culture rather than a courtship culture.