Tinder Lessons for Students

By Bianca Salazar
Staff writer
IG: bancasalazar_bts

In preparation for Valentine’s Day, students look for people to spend the day with, whether that be with friends or their significant other. But for some of those who don’t have any, they look toward a special app to find and meet someone, and try to create a connection with them. 

Tinder is one of many apps people use to find other people like them, so to understand how the site is used, I have taken the responsibility to understand how the app works.

I have never had to use a dating app, so a fresh perspective is needed in order to understand how people view it. I have created an account using my own preferences and information and waited a week to see what I got. I also spent a couple of hours reading profiles and swiping right (liking profiles) to people I might have an interest in and to random people in order to see how people respond to my swipe. 

I have learned a few lessons about how one should behave and how best to catch the interest of another person.

The first lesson I learned was to read people’s profiles. Any person who popped up on the Swipe page not only got judged for their looks, but also for their personality and lifestyle. I didn’t notice at first, but I started to compare it to my life and determine if what they do is something I want in my life. I understand that what a person might put down might not be entirely correct, but the profiles give a really good idea of what kind of person they might be. 

The next lesson I learned was that people don’t use the messaging function on Tinder as much as I thought. One of the first things people ask is for your Snapchat. It is such an interesting request that makes me believe that Snapchat would make the conversation more private than on Tinder. On Snapchat, you can see a person’s snap score, which tells how many messages a person sends to other people. This could be used to see if there are any red flags. 

Lastly, I learned that the best way to capture the attention of a person is to start the conversation. I am not much of a talker, so I would rely on someone else to start the conversation. Once the other person started, I would respond and continue the conversation in order to gauge the type of person I am talking to. Of course, not all conversation starters are the best. Some people tried to use compliments or strange pick-up lines.

Overall, I won’t deny the power of meeting new people online on Tinder. The ability to talk to different people on just one app makes things easier for the busy college student who wants to explore and figure out their life. Dating apps can be useful to other students because it would allow them to reflect on what they want in their lives, rather than going in blind with a relationship they haven’t thought about. 

Rating: 4/5 stars.

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