Love at First Swipe

A few of my blog posts, and my social media project, have discussed how technology has changed the way we form and harvest relationships. It is a correlational relationship that several of the speakers we have listened to in class have analyzed, and even an Oscar winning film, “Her” is about a man that is in a relationship with Siri. Needless to say technology is changing the way we date whether that be through the way we communicate with our dates, through an online dating site like the JDate project, and now addictive apps. In this blog I am responding to an article in the most recent TIME magazine. The article talked about the new popular app, Tinder, and it immediately reminded me of Zuckerbergs Facemash-- highly addictive. These games give the users a kind of endorphin rush to make the user hooked.  Both Facemash and Tinder are based on a system of snap judgments--so really these dating apps are really just a game. In Tinder, you just swipe your finger whether you like or do not like, in Fashmash you click the hotter girl. This truly turns dating into an addictive game and while “dating has always been something of a game, it is now built into a device we carry and check some 150 times a day.” The author seems to take this as a negative thing, because these apps become addicting like Candy Crush, and the users are mistreating the app, using it instead for bets or the spurring of drinking games. In my opinion, this is not a negative thing, but it just means that the rules of the dating game are going to have to change. This addicting quality of Tinder that gives the users a sort of “high”-- the same high that one can feel when going on their first great date, or having their first kiss with someone! So whether this app is being used for meeting someone and falling in love with them, or if it simple is a fun game, it is producing the same “high” and bringing people together.