Tinder was once considered a platform to find the love of one’s life. However, it’s not the same anymore as it’s now filled with scammers and people just looking for hookups. Therefore, you must ask yourself a question that is Tinder safe for you before installing it on your smartphone and begin the swiping spree.
In this article, I am going to share with you the potential dangers of Tinder for adults, college students, teenagers, and everyone who is willing to find a date online. In the end, I have also shared some ways through which you can keep yourself and your kids safe from the dark side of dating apps like Tinder. So without wasting any more time let’s jump right into the article.
Table Of Contents
What Are The Dangers Of Tinder?
1. Your Privacy Is At Risk
The most dangerous side of Tinder is that it always keeps your privacy at risk. When you create your account on Tinder you have to enter your personal details on it like your photos, name, location, age, preferences, etc. It is necessary to provide your details to Tinder so that it can show relevant people to you. Generally, it is safe to create an account on Tinder but like most other social media apps it’s also prone to a data breach.
Also, it can get hacked like it did in past and you can be prey to identity theft. In 2012, Tinder went through a massive data breach due to security flaws where its user’s data was exposed for almost 165 days. It can also happen in the future and hence creating your account on Tinder or any such apps is always risky.
2. It Takes A Toll On Mental Health
Tinder is a photo-based dating app where everyone adds their most attractive photos so that they can get the most number of swipes. Due to the same reason, both male and female users experience low self-esteem and start body shaming themselves. This negatively impacts their mood and in extreme cases pushes them towards anxiety and depression.
3. Affects Your Personality
According to various research, Tinder users show higher dark triad traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy) and sociosexuality. This means people using Tinder generally have a darker personality and show less empathy when compared to those not using it. For the same reason, it is not safe for teenagers to use it because they are at a very influential age, and using Tinder can affect their personality in a bad way.
4. Promote Adultery And Hookups
The other prominent danger of Tinder is that the people on it are generally looking for hookups and casual sex. And, since 30 % of Tinder’s users are married it is not an exaggeration to say that it promotes cheating in a relationship. Also, people desperately looking for hookups on Tinder don’t shy away from sexually assaulting others on it. Therefore it is not a safe place for teenagers or anyone for that matter.
5. Addictive
Who thought only Candy Crush could be addictive has not used Tinder yet. According to a report, Tinder users spend 35 minutes per day on this app. It may not sound like a frightening danger but you are wasting more than a half-hour of your day on one app when you could have invested that time in doing something productive.
6. Scammer’s Paradise
Creating a fake account on Tinder is as easy as ABC. Anyone can enter wrong details on it to create their account and scammers take full advantage of it. They add attractive photos to their fake tinder profile, write an impressive bio, and then wait for their prey to swipe them.
Once they find a target they play multiple tricks to scam the users. Here are the various types of scams happening on Tinder that you should be aware of. Lots of cases of Tinder scams are being reported lately and therefore you need to take care while using the app.
How To Overcome Dangers Of Tinder?
So these were some of the top risks associated with Tinder. These dangers are not restricted to Tinder only and are applicable to almost all other dating apps and even social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Here are some tips that you can follow to keep yourself safe from the dark side of online dating.
1. Only Swipe Verified Profiles
There are two types of profiles on Tinder, verified and non-verified. The verified profiles will have a blue tick on the photos of that particular user. Swiping only verified profiles makes sure that you are in contact with real people and not scammers because scammers never use their original photos.
2. Don’t Share Anything Personal With Anyone
It’s common that we easily trust people and share everything with them to show that we trust them. However, sharing your highly confidential details like your location, bank details, etc. with a stranger on Tinder can put you in trouble. Therefore, you should always restrain from sharing anything personal with anyone on Tinder.
3. Meet Your Match In A Safe Place
You have got a match and are super excited because you are going to meet your date for the first time. But wait, it can be a trap. Who knows the person you are going to meet is a scammer or a criminal who might harm you. So make sure you meet people you find on Tinder at a safe place like a shopping mall, cinema hall, or any other public place.
4. Monitor Your Kids Activities On Tinder
I know Tinder is not for kids, but still, most kids under the age of 18 secretly use it. If you are concerned about your kid’s safety on Tinder then you should monitor all their activities on it. You can make use of Tinder spy apps that give you access to all the activities of your kid’s device. By keeping track of their Tinder account you can eliminate any danger that comes their way in time.
5. Don’t Find Love Online
The best way to keep yourself protected from the dangers of Tinder is to not use it in the first place. Instead of looking for love online start meeting new people and get to know them in person. Not just will it keep you safe from the dark world of dating apps but will also help you make real friends who can teach you a lot of new things.
FAQs
Is Tinder Is A Waste Of Time?
Mostly yes, because most users are not looking for serious relationships and are on it just for hookups.
Why You Should Uninstall Tinder?
As we have already discussed in this article, there are many dangers associated with the use of Tinder. If you want to keep yourself safe you need to uninstall it ASAP.
Is Tinder Evil?
We cannot say that but Tinder users have shown higher dark triads of personality when compared to non-users.
