Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age

I'm too distracted by the ability of these kids to inject the word "like" as many times as they do. It's tough to take them, like, you know, like serious.

As a male who used Bumble, Tinder, and coffee meets bagel, I can say that the portion of this documentary that focuses on using those apps is fairly accurate. A lot of the times, women just wanted to meet up to hook up, and I'm sure men do as well. That part was well done, however that was only a small portion. The rest of the film focused mainly on making men look like idiots and pigs, I'm not sure if the director specifically chose men who were borderline brain-dead, but, it was almost insulting to see that every man in this documentary had the speech pattern of Someone in a coma. Nearly every woman tells a story about how men treated them badly or how men treated them disrespectful. There is a brief interview with me sociologist at Tinder, where, for some reason, they try to get her to say that the app is used for hooking up. I'm not really quite sure what that scene was supposed to portray, but, it really didn't fit the flow of the film. I don't really know what the focus of the film was supposed to be, but, it briefly talks about the history of dating apps, Then talks to college students about how they use the app, then talks to mainly women about horror stories when using the app, and then female empowerment with using the apps. I'm not quite sure what the filmmaker was trying to convey, but, that's what I gathered from it. It's worth watching, don't get me wrong, but it seems like the filmmaker was trying to do a feminist documentary with the subject being about using hook up apps.

...This time on the mating habits of millennials given the rise of the dating app.

At the beginning of the documentary a statement is made "Adults 18 to 30 spend an estimated 10 hours on dating apps (a week)." I do not know how that statistic was obtained. However, since the vast majority of this documentary is how millennials find dates in their own words, I'll let that slide.

One couple stands out. They are mid to late 20s. They met on a dating app. They claim to be in love. The guy says that in the past people were stuck in a certain geographical location, they would meet somebody, get married, and stay together for 60 years. "What a drag" he comments. Is it really? Isn't that the dream of most people? To find someone you want to be with forever? Not in this temporary digital age. Later the guy jokes, looking at his girlfriend, well maybe it would be OK to be with her until age 60. She retorts - "No, maybe until 30... you see I'm 27 now..." She is sitting right next to the guy with whom she is in a committed relationship, and she is already looking down the road at what might be her better options.

Another girl mentions that her boyfriend that she met via a dating app is seeing other girls from that same app - she peeked at his phone - so she has decided to sleep around too. That will show him!

The impact of the dating app is also mentioned in the context of the LGBTQ community. From those interviewed these apps have helped tremendously with finding friends as well as lovers and added to their safety. One young man says that unless you are living in a big city, that trying to find someone can not only be hard but dangerous.

Also discussed is the impact of internet porn on dating habits. Girls say that guys watch this modern porn - which apparently is quite degrading to the girl compared to the porn of old -and either expect sex with a real girl to be like that or cannot perform when it isn't like that.

In the end someone mentions the growing field of augmented reality and wonders what will happen when that is joined with dating apps. He wonders if people will ever go on real dates again since a VR date will allow you to feel and interact with a simulated person without all of "the bother" of an actual person. (????)

This last bit reminded me of an old 1994 Dilbert cartoon. Dogbert (Dilbert's dog) is pondering -"I can predict the future by assuming that money and male hormones are the driving force of new technology. Therefore when VR gets cheaper than dating, society is doomed." The scene flashes forward to the year 2004. Dogbert is answering the door to a girl who has come to call on Dilbert. Dogbert replies "He has been in the Holodeck since March".

The future is now.