Swipe Right: The New Age of Online Hookup Culture
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Watching comfortably from bed, I study my roommate as she applies liquid blush to her lips. Scrolling infinitely through Instagram, I listen intently to her nervous rambles.
“Can I wear this?” After scouring through her closet, she gives up and goes to ransack my own. She looks at me, holding the light purple tank-top I’d been saving for the perfect occasion, an occasion just like this; a first date.
I watch as she studies herself in the mirror, performing final touch ups and clicking her tongue in anticipation. Her nerves travel over to me - this is now just as much my date as it is her own.
After committing to putting herself out there, my roommate is now on her second Tinder date this week. Sending her off, I go to spy through the blinds and catch a glimpse of their first, slightly awkward introductions as they drive off into the Milledge Avenue sunset.
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My freshman year, I entered college hopeful of being swept off my feet. After a year of random frat boy interactions and listening to my friends’ horrifying hookup stories, I was hit with the reality that is college hookup culture. As an undoubtedly hopeless romantic I was heartbroken; where was the college sweetheart pipeline I was promised?
Have the days of meet cutes truly passed? Are online dating apps our only hope?
A few hours pass and my roommate barges back through the front door. Her cosmic grin and the foreign sweatshirt that now covers my purple tank-top serve as the only answer I need. As she frantically paces the room, she walks me through every word exchanged and interaction made. This is my favorite part of living with roommates: I get storytime almost every night. After living vicariously through her for the next few hours, I begin the inevitable spiral.
“You should download Tinder.” My roommate finishes her ‘magical first date’ spiel and reads the look on my face.
Apprehensively, I find my thumbs typing Tinder into my search bar. The app downloads slowly as I contemplate deleting it before it’s permanently burned into my home screen. The rest of the night is spent giggling over my phone as we play the Tinder game.
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Perhaps it’s time to give up on the ideas of old fashioned dating. I swipe right. I’m never going to find a meaningful connection on here. I swipe left. Maybe there is hope! It's a match.
The Tinder game occupies my nightly ritual. Swiping, I convince myself this counts as ‘putting myself out there’. But the glowing message snaps me back to reality. My thumbs hover over the keyboard as I weigh both the pros and cons that would come with responding. After careful contemplation, I decide, pros outweigh cons, and swiftly type back a message. The response is quick, to the point, and an immediate ick. I exit the app.
Like clockwork, this routine seeps into my daily schedule. Swipe, swipe, swipe, message, exit.
And the worst of it, when I see that same bad message walking towards me on the way to accounting the next morning.
Is the world of online dating a rite of passage we all must seemingly cross?
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After a few weeks, my roommate ended up ghosting her tinder flame. She happily moved on.
Is there room for meaningful connections in the world of online dating? Or are all college students just destined for one night stands and horrifying stories?
Strike Out,
Amelia Sturkie
Editor: Ellie Dover
Athens