Hey everybody, my name is Chris Hull, and I am a freshman here at Notre Dame.

Additionally, I am currently in a committed relationship. This last fact about me is relevant to my

talk because I have watched my college friends, time and time again, try to start a relationship
through the dating app Tinder. Through my research, I have found that Tinder aims to make
dating simpler, more convenient, and more casual, which Tinder has successfully done. However,
what Tinder aims for contributes to how its actually not a dating app but rather a hookup
catalyst, which comes with romantic consequences for its college student users.
First, Tinder is simple because all a user has to do is swipe right on another users profile
to show interest and swipe left to show no interest. However, this simplicity can be better
understood as superficiality. If we look at this Tinder profile, the first thing that stands out is
Shreks face. Also, we can see that his picture takes up most of the space, so its pretty clear that
Tinder is appealing to its users aesthetic wants. What this means is that Tinder relationships are
superficial because students simply swipe right or left according to users physical looks. In a
sense, Tinder takes the phrase looks matter and makes an app for that.
Next, Tinder is convenient because it has its users skip the pre-dating process, which can
be pretty grueling for those that go the traditional route because its really hard to tell how your
crush feels about you. On the other hand, Twitter conveniently cuts to the chase by starting a
conversation between the matched pair. This conversation more or less goes likes this: Hey, you
think Im attractive, and I think youre attractive. Lets test this attraction out sometime. Winky
face. This conversation is truly casual and not romantic at all.
The casual Tinder relationship can be better translated as hooking up. Now, theres no
easy way to define what a hookup is. At a state school, a hookup probably means sex. At Notre
Dame, a hookup may be holding hands. Either way, a hookup is when students are acting

romantically towards each other outside of being in a relationship. It should not be surprising that
Tinder relationships are better understood as hookups, considering Tinders look-based match
filter. Tinder users are physically attracted to their match; therefore, they are attracted to the idea
of physically doing stuff with their match, considering that college students are essentially
walking hormones.
I hope that its becoming clear that Tinder is not a dating app but rather a catalyst that
streamlines its users towards superficial, albeit convenient, hookups. However, many college
students still continue to use Tinder, which, in turn, results in romantic consequences for them.
The first romantic consequence deals with long-term committed relationships. Natalie
Delgadillo, a writer for the Daily Bruin at UCLA, claims that long-term relationships are
becoming less attractive because this generation of college students has a reluctance to commit.
This reluctance to commit is in a large part due from the fact that hookups are becoming a more
attractive option thanks to Tinder. According to Delgadillo, this is a major consequence because
committed relationships are a source of many peoples happiness and growth (Delgadillo). I
completely agree with her. Through my current relationship, Ive personally grown into a better
person, and Ive honestly been a lot happier, as well. So, by using Tinder and casually hooking
up with other users, college students risk missing out on happiness and growth that comes from
long-term relationships.
Moving onto the second consequence, lets suppose that someone truly believes that they
can find love on Tinder. Im not contesting that. However, the love he/she would find is probably
not the best kind of love. Professors Alan K. Goodboy and Melanie Booth-Butterfield conducted
research over the six love styles: eros, storge, ludus, pragma, mania, and agape, and how these
love styles related to a desire for closeness in romantic relationships. Through my research, I

found that the love styles that are applicable to Tinder are eros and ludus. Eros love tends to
focus on physical attraction, and ludus love tends to view love as a game, where the ludic lover
manipulates situations that are advantageous for himself/herself (Goodboy and Booth-Butterfield
191-192). These two love styles apply to Tinder love because Tinder users choose partners based
on physical attraction and because users manipulate their identities in order to advantageously
appear more attractive. In their research, Goodboy and Booth-Butterfield found that eros lovers
actively move their relationships to more intimate levels, whereas ludus lovers are content with
maintaining distance (195). A love that is content with maintaining distance is essentially
noncommittal love. With noncommittal love, a Tinder relationship incapable of turning into a
long-term committed relationship, which means that it is best a Tinder relationship amounts to
nothing more than an exclusive hookup.
So, now were back to where weve started. In short, it doesnt matter which reason a
student gives for using Tinder (perks, long-term relationship, love) because the end result will
most likely be a hookup.
Now, at this point, some students could respond back asking, whats so wrong with
hookups? Arent hookups just part of the college experience? Dont all students want this?
According to Professor Donna Freitas, most students, both men and women, privately wish that
more committed relationships and romance were more available on college campuses (217). So
what? Thats just a wish. Actions speak louder than words, right? Thats right. For whatever
reason, (peer pressure, social norms, alcohol), students arent acting out their wish, but this
doesnt mean that what they wish for shouldnt go unnoticed. Out of the college students that
responded to Professor Freitas question about romance, 65% of them identified a romantic
experience as having no sexual intimacy whatsoever and 14% of them identified a romantic

experience as a first kiss (107-108). So, if we do the math, 79% of them state that the romance
they privately wish for does not include sex, and we all know that sex is often a common result
of a hookup.
I, myself, agree with the 65%. Before my girlfriend and I started officially dating, we
went on a bunch of romantic dates. For example, for one of our dates we played ping pong,
where she beat me 21-3...Now, at first glance, that date dont appear to be romantic, but it was
because on dates like this one we started to be attracted to each together for reasons other than
looks. They were also romantic because we didnt even hookup, actually we didnt even hug. We
had our first hug 29 days after the first time we hung out. Why do I know that? Because my
roommates kept a running tally of how many days I had gone without a hug on our whiteboard.
The harassment from my roommates was worth it because through these dates I truly got to
experience a glimpse of the happiness I could receive if I were to start dating her and I could
truly feel her bringing out the best in me. So, the point of my story is to inspire perseverance in
all my fellow romantics out there.
I hope that I have shown today that Tinder does not fulfill our private romantic wishes
and it actually streamlines its users towards hookups that miss out on happiness and growth. So, I
challenge all of my fellow romantics out there to stay away from Tinder and to persevere in you
alls romantic endeavors. Dont settle for a hookup. Do whatever it takes to fulfill you alls
romantic wishes, even if that means waiting 29 days for a hug. Thanks for your time.