A new speed dating app for the iPhone
/ Alex Resila
SYRACUSE -- If you are looking for a date instantly, there might be an answer for you. Tinder is an iPhone app which allows you to view pictures of people you might be interested in. This concept is not new to us, but it is new to your phone. Tinder is based solely on looks and you get to be the judge if the person lit up on your screen is hot, or not.
You can set parameters for how far you are willing to find love. You can look as far as 100 miles. The way Tinder finds people who you might be interested in is through Facebook. It looks at your interests and friends and shows you potential dates that way.
I signed up for this dating app just to see what has made this catch fire. I found some girls who liked the Yankees were paired up with me, because I too liked to Yankees. The same goes for other interests too like skiing, cooking or SU hoops. Interests aren't the only way to be matched either I found, it can come through one of your friends. Some girls I saw were friends I already knew from Facebook, but others shared mutual friends with me.
Hailey Temple is the Intergalactic Resources Manager with NEXIS, which is a technology research group out of Syracuse University. "When you log on to Tinder it goes right through your Facebook account, because that's how it links to know your interests (and) mutual friends," says Temple. "Everyone's running around, everyone wants to have technology right literally in the palm of their hands."
Alexis Madison is a student at SU and she doesn't like how removed and superficial this seems. "It just seems so at face value, there's not that sort of connecting aspect that's there," says Madison.
Leah Kalmenson is another SU student and she doesn't mind this one bit. "I've made around 40 or 50 matches, I haven't been putting my full attention into it. Maybe I'll go back through and look through the profiles again, maybe I'm missing out on something," says Kalmenson.
The app is not available for download on Androids yet, as a date has not been announced by the creator.
