THE MAJOR LEAGUES OF DATING IN YOUR TWENTIES

Dating in 2019 has to be the most bizarre thing, from online dating and apps; do real people even meet in person anymore? I’ve always dated people I’ve naturally met out in public, at school or through mutual friends, but more and more girls have been partaking in the online dating phenomenon and many with success stories. I’ll admit, I’ve always scoffed at these, I like to build real connections face to face, but with such a HUGE parentage of the pool of hot single men using these apps, is this the new dating norm? It feels as if your not on these apps, you could potentially be missing out on great men. I’m not sure if this is true having never tried a dating app for myself, but now that I’ve recently entered back into the dating arena, it is a entirely new and exciting world.

For this reason, me and my two friends, Clare and Rachael, wanted to give a go at a dating app together for the first time, and see for ourselves what it was really like. The main objective was to meet new people and gain more dating experience (it is important before joining an app to identify exactly what you want.) Having surveyed several of our close friends, we decided to give the Hinge app a try. Before making a profile, I definitely had some reservations about the whole experience, but we decided to dive right in. It’s important to note that I’m not being sponsored by Hinge to create this post. The three of us all created profiles with the help of one another, picking the perfect pictures, but not too perfect, if you know what I mean? It’s important to pick humorous tag lines and photos here cause they’re great conversation starters. For those of you who haven’t used this app, it allows you to pick up to 6 pictures, and choose three questions to answer about yourself that are visible on your profile. Questions like; Qualities I’m looking for, You should not* go out with me if, and Ideal first date… that sort of thing. Have fun with this part, these give you the chance to really show off your personality, I even threw in a photo of me chugging a giant faux bottle of wine, just for fun.

The first week was interesting, both my friends had made tons of matches, but not any real connections and no in person dates, but we’re early in the game. Most of the men would message in response to one of their questions on their profiles, or with raunchy late night booty call… typical. For myself, I had only matched with a select hand full of men, most of which never started a real conversation. A few guys later in the week reached out to me with small talk, but it was unclear of their true intentions. For myself, conversing with someone through the app seamed very superficial and disingenuous. It was also annoying to keep checking to see if you had any new messages or matches, it seemed like it would take an entire day to get through “hey hows it going?”. I’m not a huge texter to begin with, more of a phone call gal, so this was a challenge for me! Rachael and Clare decided to go on a date each week, and they jokingly would happen to be at the same place at the same time and pretend to not know each other LOL! Me on the other hand could not participate in this as I had zero dates two weeks in. My goal was to get just one date, and eventually I did.

Fast forwarding about a month and a half later (real time) the three of us are all in completely different places with the app than when we originally started. Not only did I get one date, but many, they joke with me cause I was the girl who could barely get one match and now, they like to say I have an entire baseball team lol! That is not accurate, but I have had significantly more success than I originally thought. Taking a look at the three of us individually, Rachael is seeing a guy regularly, she’s gone out with a few men, but one seems to really be hitting it off with her…Score! Their taking it slow, but I’d say the app has been a huge success for her thus far. For Clare, she’s having fun!! That’s all that any girl can really ask for, she honestly hasn’t had great luck with the app and that is perfectly okay. She went on several dates initially, mostly with duds or men she had no real connection with. Due to her tight work schedule and strict standards in men, she’s decided to give the app a back seat for now. For me, I guess you could say I’m somewhere in the middle and I like that for now. After all, the middle is the best part of the Oreo right?? I’m seeing a few guys here and there that spark my interest, and I’ve also met many guys that are only good for quick marg and nothing else… it’s all about the experience. After meeting several new people, whether or not it’s actually going anywhere, it still has been fun! I definitely would recommend the app to any singles. Not only has it opened me up to so many new people that I never would have met otherwise, but it’s also taught me new things about myself.

If your someone looking for real love, I think you can find it here. Though it may take hard work and dedication, most of the singles appear to want something casual, or unsure of what they want. You’ll have to weed through all these in order to find maybe the 5% that are looking for something long term, but I’ve seen it been done. If your someone who wants something fun and casual, you most definitely will have no problems using Hinge at all, take your pick! But if your someone like myself, that may want a relationship for the right guy, but is ALSO perfectly happy being alone, than this is great fun for you too! I’ve come to realize that with these apps, online dating or dating for any matter; it’s important to not take it too seriously, stay light hearted and genuine to your TRUE self. The right guy is certainly out there for you, but you have to put yourself into new and sometimes uncomfortable situations in order to find him/her. Until then, I’ll be continuing to use the app. For those of you in doing the same, there are four key take away’s; put yourself first, surround yourself with good friends, know when to say NO, and don’t be afraid to be bold!

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The pants and top are both from Princess Polly, while the hat is sold out from Zara and the shoes are also no longer available from INC. at Macys.