miercuri, 26 martie 2014

Tindering around or my experience with Tinder

As any respectable article writing citizen, I'll have to start this post by stating: if there was one last thing you might ever catch me doing,then that would most definitely be joining a dating app/community (or getting a touchscreen smartphone instead of my old buttonwise raggy one). That being said, I have always strongly disapproved of all this nonsense of virtually hooking up or chatting with strangers, well... , maybe not always, but most definitely ever since I realized mirc was probably a child molester infested environment,not suitable for a 12 year old. Frankly, I don't think internet cafes should have allowed underaged people to begin with...

However, here I stand, 13 years and one tindersperience day later.

I know getting bored is never an excuse for actions, but for a while now I've been feeling left out by all my touchscreen addicted friends and they're compulsive behavior and joy of texting or playing wherever and whenever (Shakiraaa ,Shakiraaa). Yesterday the joy got a little out of hand, so I got curious to see what was "this sorcery" everyone was so enthusiastic about.

Turns out, with a little help from the gps and wi-fi connection,one can swipe through people around the area, this was almost like high school all over again! A virtual adaptation of the face checkings we used to do each day during breaks back in our school days. Now that was quite awesome, plus I also have a soft spot for nostalgia and memories...

Furthermore, it is just as good,or actually, even better, since no one can hear/see u giggle or laugh, because the app doesn't let people know they've been "next-ed" hence rejected or made fun of. Basically, the only people who will know you like them and who you'll be able to talk to, are the ones that liked you back.

Seemed safe enough to waste time on (without a actual personal pic of course, I never play fair), so I carried on to downloading the app the very same night. First of all you'll need to set the distance range, I didn't get too greedy, so I went for 20 km and also the age limit and gender of the faces you'd like to swipe (off of planet Earth most of the times, frankly...).

Great! so we had 20 km, not over 35 (but always starting 18,since you can't change the lower limit, I knew I was right about these kind of businesses being wrong to start with ,as I've mentioned my mirc-ie fears earlier on...) and, well guys, duh!

At first it seemed natural to keep swiping fiercely and it was quite hard to proceed to liking someone even when the pictures and interests were right.
Somehow the friends in common (since it operates via your facebook account) instead of making it more easily to like, made it more awkward and hard to push the button, so hell, I swiped over them. After all, it seemed to be a sea of never-ending fish (with sunglasses, cameras, domestic or savage animals or even babies!).
However, in about 40 minutes and 300 pictures,the inevitable happened, I ran out of faces! Ok, ok, no panic. I set the range to 40 km,then 60 km, then the maximum of 100 km, but, though luck dudes, in less than 2 minutes, I wasted those far away faces also.

Bottom line, I ended up with about 10-15 likes given, out of which 3 or 4 were accidental,and one single match (those who actually expect to hook up should fill in some real pictures and like a little more often I guess).
But I'm cool, my one match was worth it, it was a social media advertising page for Venchi icecreams and chocolates (now who doesn't love chocolate, be honest and don't be jealous), So apparently any social media place is a good place to campaign your goods, even a dating site!

All in all, I think it's worth trying for a good laugh,especially when you bump over your friends or otros conocidos,but it kind of gets old really fast and since it's got an addictive nature it is also a little disappointing when it runs out of people to see...
For all you real players out there, I wish you most of luck and least of american psychos on the loose!