‘Tinder Got Me Laid’ – College Hook-up Culture Goes Viral

College kids don’t need bars or frat parties to find one-night stands anymore – that’s so last century.

Tinder, the latest technology-driven flirting crutch, has transferred the collegiate hook-up scene to cyberspace, where today’s 20-somethings – raised in a culture with “participation trophies” and “there’s no wrong answers” – can find possibilities for meaningless sex without fear of rejection.

“Tinder eliminates the hurt of getting turned down,” the company’s spokeswoman, Alexa Manteen, is oft-quoted as saying.

These Tinder-fueled one-night stands, which epitomize romance upon college campuses, have become incredibly popular. Launched in October at USC, the smart-phone application has since been “downloaded by millions of millennials” and “helped make more than 20 million matches,” theLos Angeles Times reported in March.

I’ve heard it once, and I’ve heard it again: “Tinder got me laid.”

Here’s the way it works: Tinder is a smart-phone application, and users download it and form a Tinder account with pictures taken from their Facebook profile. Next they elect a radius of 10 to 100 miles from which potential “matches” can be pulled.

Then the game begins.

Pictures of other Tinder users located within the radius appear on the phone screen. The application displays the potential match’s first name, age, and the number of shared Facebook interests in addition to photos. The Tinder player proceeds to tap a green heart button to “hot” the individual, or hits a red X to “not.” A new match appears, and the cycle repeats. When two Tinder users “hot” each other, the application notifies each of them that they are a match, and allows them to message each other. If the “hotted” individual doesn’t reciprocate the sentiment, the secret is safe with Tinder.

That Tinder is currently going viral on college campuses nationwide speaks to the appeal of such a trivial application. Tinder removes the risk of being painfully rejected, providing users only with ego-boosting affirmations of physical appearance. And because it’s based upon nothing more than “hotting” a photo, Tinder doesn’t suggest any form of commitment — catering to the commitment-phobia that runs rampant in college “hookup” cultures. It’s unsurprising that such an application is striking such a chord.

Read more at College Fix.