http://www.bustle.com/articles/119408-the-most-common-abuse-on-tinder-faced-by-women-is-truly-revolting-infographic
Tinder is a growing online dating app developed by Hatch Labs
in 2012. It allows users to meet new people near them by using the user’s
location to detect other users currently present in the vicinity. It uses a
“swipe right” concept, where users are presented other users’ profiles, so if
they are interested in this particular person, they can swipe right to let him
or her know. They can then make small talk in the chat section of the app, and
can also agree to meet up in real life if both people are inclined to. Although
it was developed as a dating app, it evolved to become more of a hook up app,
where people use the app to get laid minus the commitment.
Tinder may have its advantages of helping people to widen
their social circle, but it also has its disadvantages. Women in particular are
more prone to harassment by men on the app, due to the chat function that
allows for anonymity and also the lack of social cues that people get via a
face-to-face (FTF) interaction. In a FTF
interaction, nonverbal cues such as voice tone and body language are easily
noticed by both communicators. A CMC is mainly textual, so communicators
usually lacks in awareness of the social context (Bordia, 1997). In the article
above, it stated that women experience more harassment online than men from her
analysis of an Instagram account called “Bye Felipe”, an account that showcases
the abuses women get from men on Tinder. A look through that Instagram account
showed that women get called slurs even for not replying to men’s messages, or
for slow replies. This is where CMC falls behind FTF in terms of effective
communication. People are sometimes a little too preoccupied with their work to
do, and this warrants a late reply but because of the lack of social context,
the other person is left waiting for a reply clueless. This late reply
understandably results in anger and confusion from the other party, but in no
way should they lash out on the victims. This is simply a matter of
miscommunication that can easily be solved instead of resorting to verbal
abuse.
According to Heisler and Crab (2006), CMC lets the user
manipulate heavily and construct carefully how they present themselves online. In
other words, who a person portray online is not necessarily who they are in
real life. Just about anyone can go great lengths to pretend to be Leonardo
DiCaprio online because of the lack of FTF interaction that could have easily
busted the lie. Tinder is a gamble most of the time because you can’t really tell
for sure the person behind the screen is who they pretend to be. Unless users
take their conversation to Skype where they can see the other person, pictures
can be deceiving. Anyone can pretend to be someone else online just to get laid.
Sure, the conversation might have been good but can you really date (or even
have a one night stand with) a person in real life if they happen to look
completely different from their Prince Charming or Beauty profile on Tinder? This is a
point to ponder, because for a person actively seeking to get laid, maybe the answer is a resounding yes but to some people the looks might not be too much of a
dealbreaker but the lie might be.
Well, it seems like Tinder is only beneficial to those who
have nothing to lose. Is it worth it to go through lies and harassment and
heartbreak before you get (or might not get) rescued by your knight in shining
armour? Or is it better to just go out and meet new people despite your
crippling social anxiety? You decide.
References:
Bordia, P. (1997). Face-to-face versus computer-mediated communication: A synthesis of the experimental literature. Journal of Business Communication,34(1), 99-118.
Heisler, J. & Crabill, S. (2006). Who are “Stinkybug”
and “packerfan4”? Email pseudonyms and participants’ perceptions of demography,
productivity, and personality. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(1).
Written by Chantelle Yap Suet Teng (40807)
In my point of view, it is not surprising that there are people out there willing to use the so called online dating app to widen their social circle and even wish to use the app to find their future life partners. This is because people nowadays are so busy with their work and many of them have no extra time to socialize with other people other than their colleagues in their working places. Furthermore, there are some people who are too shy to make friends with people in real life. Due to many factors such as lack of self-confidence and having difficulties to socialize with strangers, Tinder has become their first choice to make friends or find future life partners undoubtedly. Despite that this online dating app brings lot of bad impacts to its users, Tinder does help these groups of people mentioned above to expand their social circle. Of course, not to forget to remind all Tinder users to be more aware of those strangers who live in the world of online when they are using it in make new friends or finding future life partners. The best advice that I suggest here is that it is better not to get so addicted to the online dating app because its chat function allows anonymity and if everyone is so sick to rely so much on the app, social circle of the people in real life would face another risk which is lack of social cues that people get via a face-to-face (FTF) interaction.
ReplyDeleteAfter go through this article, I found out that CMC can be vulnerable and easily exploits by individual such as racketeer. Even though CMC ease people’s life in terms of time consuming, save cost and against geographically constraint, CMC also shows the other negative side behind it. As mentioned in the article, CMC allowed individual to manipulate and construct “fake” identity online and used it as “bait”. This scenario happened heavily in social media like Tinder. As such, this have caused the increment of cyber crime happened in Malaysia and Malaysia been marked as the sixth most vulnerable country to cyber crime for instance financial fraud, money laundering, cyber harassment and so on. Cheng (2015) reported that there are 30 Malaysians fall victim to cyber crime like fraud daily. However, Malaysia’s national cyber security specialist agency (2015) highlighted that there are actually more than 30 cases as many more cases may have gone unreported or unnoticed by the victim. This have exposed the vulnerable of CMC even though we are relatively tech-savvy but somehow we are lack of awareness to protect ourselves fallen as a victim also.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I would prefer in going out and meet new friends through social activities instead of online dating application. It is hard to know and understand someone in deep even though we knew them for years, so it is more unsecure to be friends with unknown we never met through online application. Just like what has been mentioned in the article, users of online dating application are always been exposed to danger, especially for ladies. For sure, it is beneficial too for those who are shy and not willing to step out from their comfort zone to meet new friends by face to face. They can chat and talk whatever they like with anyone they prefer to in the online application. Anyway, users must be extra careful when using online application.
ReplyDeleteAs a woman in my 20s, I do see the hype that surrounds Tinder and I can see why many youths out there would opt to use it to expand their social circle. After all, with the changing times, CMC has become the new FTF. However, being raised in a relatively conservative family, I have been conditioned to believe that FTF communication is the best way to forge a relationship with another person. Personally, I would not use Tinder to meet my match because there are many other ways to go about it without the risk of harassment or fraud. It is unsurprising that many young people would turn to Tinder, because it is difficult to find a loyal and reliable partner-- but I have heard of too many Tinder horror stories to try it out myself. For instance, I know of a girl who used Tinder and was preyed on by men who only wanted her for sex, even though her only intention was to establish an honest, legitimate relationship. Although more common among women, Tinder poses a high risk for men as well. One of my male friends used Tinder because he was tired of being single, and wanted a girlfriend-- but ended up having a friend with benefits and became lonelier than he was when he first started off. These reasons alone are enough to deter me from using Tinder.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very high probability be “cheated” by the other party we communicate with through CMC. As for me, my parent was not allowed me and my sister to use social media when I was in secondary school. They always told us how dangerous if we communicate with strangers that we never seen before. That is why we now prefer more on face-to-face than CMC also. An example from the article, Tinder is a social website that easier for those who are not so socialized to make new friends. However, what is stated there may not be the real. According to a research from Bryant, Marmo and Ramirez (2011), social-networking user such as Facebook and Twitter user, they would like to avoid presenting themselves to others in negative ways. They feel that having a good impression on social media although may vary from their real personalities is very essential. So, I think we should be more careful when communicating with strangers especially through CMC. You will never know who is the one texting with you.
ReplyDeleteIt is no doubt that the digital culture nowadays and smartphones in particular have transformed many aspects of our society, including how people seek out and establish romantic relationships and I agreed that it is us to decide whether it makes any sense. I personally think that there is neither good nor bad in using online dating applications. It is just depends on how we use those applications. As for me, a face to face interaction or communication would be my preference in choosing life partner. I would not go for those online dating applications in finding life partner because I feel it is somehow insecure especially when there are so many fraud cases out there. In a study conducted by research firm GlobeWebIndex, it was revealed a big proportion of Tinder users might not even be single. Nevertheless, online dating applications can still be used in making friends but at your own risk. Users must be smart in using those applications.
ReplyDeleteTinder is basically an easier way of meeting people who may or may not be the love of your life. I know people who have bad experiences and some who found the 'one'after swiping right. It definitely changes the rules of love and minds of people today, especially the younger generation but the risk is too great in my opinion. Even if one is using Tinder with good intentions, what if someone else was using it with bad intentions? Anyone can be anyone online which makes Tinder even scarier. You could be talking to middle aged man posing as an attractive 25 year old who says all the right things. No matter how good technology gets, it will never beat face to face interaction which is the best way to make friends and find the love of your life, no matter how hard it is.
ReplyDelete