For the tenth anniversary of Tinder, a scientist clears up clichés about the popular dating app. “Although there are a number of studies in which people describe how they perceive Tinder as a catalog to leaf through or even as a meat counter where you look and choose, this usually has little to do with reality,” says the Sociologist Thorsten Peetz from the University of Bamberg. “You can’t just want one person and that works.”
Rather, it is “a game in which everyone tries to bring their own intimate value to bear”. “The cliché that it is a more superficial form of getting to know each other and an economization of intimate life does not do justice to the phenomenon.”
Peetz, who published the article “Digitalized Intimate Evaluation – Possibilities of Social Observation on Tinder”, contradicts the image of a kind of department store, instead he emphasizes that Tinder, Bumble, Lovoo and Co. are definitely considered forms of partner search. “Many tell whole stories with pictures and texts, announcing exactly what they want and don’t want.”
Tinder (German: Zunder) started ten years ago (September 12th). The app made the so-called swiping a mass phenomenon. Users see profiles with photos and information in their area: If you like someone, swipe to the right, if you don’t like someone, swipe to the left. If both people find each other good, a so-called match is created. According to the operating company, the app has been downloaded more than 530 million times and has led to more than 75 billion matches.
