If this title seems a little familiar to something you’ve already read, you wouldn’t be wrong. A little less than a year ago, I re-downloaded Tinder as an experiment after years of not using it to see how many conversations I could have about pizza and life in general. These past two weeks, I decided to go for round two, but with a completely different dating app. Where I was already familiar with how Tinder worked because I had used it in my earlier college days, Bumble was as foreign to me as decaf coffee.
For those of you that are also unfamiliar with how Bumble works, the dating app has all of the usual commonalities: swiping through endless profiles and pictures of other singles in the area and either swiping left (no) or swiping right (yes) to someone you could possibly be interested in. Simple enough, right? However, here’s the catch: the females have to message first. In order for any type of conversation to be started on this app, the females have to be the one to start it. So, that meant that my first few conversations were pretty interesting, and the entire time I remained 100% true to myself and how I communicate with people.
Before I get into the excitement that is the conversations I had on the app, I first want to say my initial thoughts about Bumble, and dating apps in general. There was a time in my life where I was a firm believer in Tinder and thought it was a good way to meet people. I also thought it would be a good way to take away the stress and anxiety of the first, awkward introductions when meeting people of the opposite sex. However, after a few interactions with people I hit it off with from the app, which may or may not have included a hookup, a series of awkward dates, and being stood up, I concluded that they just weren’t for me. Between juggling classes, clubs, and finding spare time to binge watch Gilmore Girls, I didn’t have the time anymore to constantly swipe left or right in order to find someone I wanted to have any type of relationship with. I decided to leave my romantic life in the hands of cupid and lived my life as I usually did. However, to each their own, and if dating apps are your thing, then by all means, you do you, girl.
Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Since the girl boss that has to message first, I didn’t hold anything back.
The great thing about dating apps is the types of pictures and bios that people choose to use. I came across pictures of shirtless men in the gym throwing up double middle fingers, people named Juice, even men explaining in detail how long their erection time usually lasts in their bio. Talk about TMI. Nonetheless, detailed bios usually give a good starting point for discussion.
I was even honest about my intentions with some of them….
…little does he know.
After about my first week of using Bumble, I had this epiphany that Bumble was the ultimate dating game, and everyone was falling for it. Not only do the females message first, but they also have up to 24 hours to message someone to start a conversation. After those 24 hours, the connection is lost forever. Except, here’s plot twist: the male extends your connection, where you’re then alerted and you have another 48 hours to message them. Basically, they want you to reconsider not messaging them in the first place. Furthermore, say you do message someone first, if they don’t answer in 24 hours, then the connection is gone! Mama mia!
Even if someone doesn’t have a stellar bio, Bumble makes it easy to start a conversation by using gifs:
Some people really impressed me with their gif usage and appreciation…
… and others did not.
While we’re on the topic of ruined conversations, I did encounter the inevitable and had to experience nauseating messages that no girl wants to read on a dating app, or hear ever.
(preface: his bio was “my last name spelled backwards is lime”)
(I knew I made a good decision when I stopped responding after he asked what H2P is)
But on a better note, I obviously used my love of food in some conversations.
Overall, my experience on Bumble was what I predicted: I didn’t have too many long conversations and most of the time, it went nowhere and one of us stopped responding, or they flat out said something about just hooking up. I did get some phone numbers along the way, but like I have found for myself in the past, the exchange of phone numbers rarely happens and if it does, it’s usually just someome looking to hook up, which translates to me ignoring these text messages at 2 a.m. while I stuff my face with pizza. Though I appreciated their honesty and I kept an open mind during these two weeks about the possibilities of the app, at the end of the day, I have realized that I am content meeting men naturally, whether that be at a bar or at Chipotle, where they can see my humor, sarcasm, and awkwardness firsthand.
Author’s Note: Some names and pictures are blurred out to keep some anonymity to the people involved. The views of this piece do not reflect Her Campus as a whole and are explicitly that of the author’s only.
Photo Credits: 1, other photos provided by the author