Tinder Social: Find group dates, don’t be left behind

Tinder Social might just help couples enter the hallowed halls of the dating app that drives our generation.

Tinder Social: Get ready to go on group dates.Tinder has changed the way we date in our smartphone-obsessed world. Or rather Tinder has destroyed dating, claimed one article on Vanity Fair. Either way, everyone who is single appears to be on Tinder or so we’ve been told; hunting for dates, and perhaps a ‘Netflix and chill’ option afterwards. But in case you are in your twenties and married, chances are you have not explored the hallowed halls of Tinder; FYI that’s me. Once a friend at work insisted I get on Tinder to do research work on the kind of men on the app; I gave up midway because I was bored. And also even having the app on your smartphone is the digital equivalent of cheating. “It’s my work, honey,” is not a convincing argument.
But worry not couples, who felt they’ve missed out on being part of the Tinder generations: Tinder Social is here for you, hoping to help you get group dates. Of course some on Twitter are quick to joke that Social is likely to be used as an orgy organising feature or worse still: create Pokemon hunting packs. But Tinder thinks Tinder Social will be a great addition.
So how does Tinder Social work ? A user has to create a group of friends (1 to 3), who have also opted in on the Tinder Social feature. The group members can assign an activity to their status like “Going to a concert tonight,” “Comedy Night,” “Girl’s night out,” or “Sunday Funday”. FYI I’m not attending any of these, especially ‘Sunday Funday’; sounds like a thing that a gang of South Delhi girls would come up with. But creating this group with annoying activity names is not enough.

Now if your group gets a swipe right from another group, the two groups combine, and behold conversation starts between ‘strangers’. Before you know it, you and your friends and these new friends, will be out brunching together, dancing at a nightclub or whatever other sad activity you figured was not good enough to do with your original friends.
As an option Tinder Social sounds fascinating, especially for couples, given the highly boring lives some of us lead (Guilty as charged). If most of your friends are single who still have parties where chips and copious amounts of booze are the main meals, and you are one of the few couples there, it is a given you will be the first to leave. Also you probably complain the most, get tired easily, and wish for the night to end so that you can get back to bed, because you have to get up early and go swimming to keep fit. These single people, you’ll tut-tut condescendingly, get your life together, you’ll mutter. Been there, done that.
But then there will be days, you will miss your single life. Where you will be jealous of your friends and their single apartment, their lack of EMIs, no relatives to keep happy. But you can’t go around downloading Tinder. Except with Tinder Social, you now have the option of doing so.
Tinder Social will supposedly help us find more friends and get around to doing some activities with these new, magical people; all hunting for a common group activity to do on Friday night, because staying home on this night means you are boring. And this applies to both single people and couples. Married couples or even if you’re just dating, you must constantly prove you are hep, young and not boring, and ready to do fun things; and those who are single must be up for a hookup or at least some Friday Night fun.
Tinder is supposed to help us keep alive this mirage of youth and fun. As a dating app, it relies on all the traits that define our generation; driven by mobile, impulsive thanks to the instant swipe left or right to decide whether you like someone or not, and an transitory kind of bond, a swipe right doesn’t mean you’ll actually go on the date. And couples need no longer feel left behind. So go ahead download Tinder and tell your spouse: At least this way, we won’t be boring.