There has been much discussion about the influence of dating apps on the hookup culture of younger generations, following Tinder’s outburst on Twitter over the recent Vanity Fair article.
As we said yesterday, the truth probably lies somewhere between the Vanity Fair hyperbole and Tinder’s holier-than-thou hurt feelings.
For a section of society, Nancy Jo Sales’s deception is obviously accurate because it’s based on people’s real experiences, but that certainly doesn’t mean this kind of interaction is the only sort that occurs on Tinder, or other dating services.
One of the more measured responses to the whole palaver was from Hadley Freeman in The Guardian, who defends the idea that dating apps represent the end of intimacy.
In addition to taking umbrage with the claim that the two biggest transitions in dating was the agricultural revolution and the internet (the pill?), Freeman says the belief is just another in a long line of “older generation’s horror at the dating rituals of the young.”
As she says: “Here’s the sordid truth about dating apps and human behaviour: if you are a jerk in real life, you will be a jerk when you use a dating app. If you are a decent person who gives people a vague modicum of respect, you won’t be. Internet dating gives single people more options — which I think is a good thing — and this will work for some and it will encourage others to turn into compulsive over-daters. Such are the varieties of human nature.”
Read the excellent piece here.