Dating in 2015 is done like this
Are we in the Netherlands perhaps still a bit hesitant about digital dating, in New York, The First Meeting almost always happens via bits and MBs. Dating through dating apps is not only completely normal here, it is also preferred. Busy important New Yorkers have no time to spend hours in a bar looking for the one (or a fun adventure), so it just works super effectively via the iPhone, while you're in a taxi to an important meeting where you have to be incredibly important. Now, in the name of research and journalism (that's me), I have looked at, downloaded, and tested a number of those apps, and I would like to share those findings with you. Not everything works in the Netherlands, but it is at least hugely entertaining and hey, you never know what might come of it, right? Bring on that Pulitzer Prize.
HowAboutWe
This is my favorite. You post a fun idea for a date and interested parties can respond to it. So forget that boring dinner and a movie, we want horseback riding! Or clay pigeon shooting! Or karaoke! Anything goes, and it's of course a huge icebreaker to pull that one incredibly hot guy by his digital jacket.
At First Sight
Also very nice. Not much different from Tinder but with the big difference that this app shows videos instead of photos. While you can still deceive a lot with a good angle, good filter, and then some more filters with a photo, a video is generally more honest and you know better what kind of meat you have in the tub.
Grouper
Okay, this sounds a bit like a dating app for orgies, which in theory could be the case, but that is not the intention. This app arranges group dates for you and your friends, based on your preferences and likes as indicated on Facebook. The app creates groups of three men and three women who then go on a date arranged by the app, where the first round of drinks is free. Alright, I'm doing my best not to make this come across as a group sex app, but that's failing.
Happn
Is now also becoming hot in the Netherlands and I dig it. While Tinder is really just about mindless swiping, Happn offers a bit more. The photos stay on your homepage so you can sometimes think a bit longer about whether you like that guy or not. But what is especially fun is that the app knows your routes. Which is also quite scary, but let's keep it positive. So let's say you bike the same route to work every morning, and a handsome male Happn user bikes his own route and somewhere on those two routes there is an overlap, then the app tells you that you have “crossed paths with that person 5 times this week.” A friend of mine had that situation, and then she sent that guy a message via the app saying, “Hey, we cross each other every morning at that and that intersection. Shall we wave to each other tomorrow?” And they did. From waving came dating, from dating came more dating, and now they have been living happily together for years. Haha no, of course not, after three dates the party was over but still, they were three really fun dates (but just not fun enough).
Hinge
In terms of idea, it's the same as Tinder, but with the big difference that you are only matched with friends of friends via Facebook and not total strangers. And that is a much safer idea.
