The passionate fight between Tinder and Vanity Fair journalist, Nancy Jo Sales, is all over the news. The Twitter account for Tinder was on fire against Sales, who recently argued, in her provocative feature “Tinder and the ‘Dating Apocalypse’” that the hookup culture has collided with dating apps, “which have acted like a wayward meteor on the now dinosaur-like rituals of courtship.”
“As the polar ice caps melt and the earth churns through the Sixth Extinction, another unprecedented phenomenon is taking place, in the realm of sex,” Sales wrote.
Dating app versus Vanity Fair
Tinder reacted with a collection of 30 passionate tweets, which culminated in the grand pronouncement that “Generation Tinder” does not represent the dating apocalypse, but rather its renaissance.
On Wednesday, the dating app took one step backwards, issuing a statement admitting it overreacted; yet, the virtual quarrel triggered an important conversation about the pro and cons of the online courting culture.
Finding your “perfect match” or the dating apocalypse?
Dating apps continue to divide public opinion. Either you love them, or you hate them. Brenden Gallagher, however, hates them. He recently noted that men have ruined online dating for themselves and women are sick of it.
“There are men who approach online dating by parroting catcalls they’ve heard on the street, or by starting a conversation with icebreakers about their dick, or her butt, and the possibility of an interaction between the two,” he argued, adding that “lists and short bios can’t replace the body language and physical chemistry you get in real life.”
Most don’t find true love online. Yet thanks to Data, a Love Story, the odds just got a whole lot better. Author Amy Webb was having no luck with online dating so she hacked it – managed to calculate her own “algorithm for love” – and met her eventual husband.
Dating apps are here to stay
According to a recent Pew Research Center’s report, a lot has changed since Match.com, which launched on April 21, 1995. We are increasingly embracing different ways to meet and dating apps have turned into “our best matchmaker”.
The prospect of finding a compatible mate or potential cyber-suitors with the click of a mouse is alluring the forty million people who date online each year. Statistics show that virtual love has lost much of its stigma.
One-in-five adults, ages 25-34 years old, have used online dating with the majority of Americans now saying that it is a good way to meet people, and 5% of U.S. citizens who are in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other while surfing the Web. The vast majority of relationships, however, still begin offline.
So, the dating apocalypse: what’s your view?
