[29M] Tinder has ruined my taste... Proceed with caution if you're now to the dating pool

Going on a decade of OLD and now just realizing how much it's messed me up.

If you're new or thinking about it, please proceed with caution. Use it passively, don't make it a lifestyle like me.

From my experience I've found a lot of people in real life to be attractive, but in OLD I would probably swipe left because my standards have exceeded the threshold of only being satisfied with the top tier on the apps. And let's face it, they are so inundated they will never see you AND they are only getting the top tier models at the top of their swipe stack and are not spending a significant about of time everyday because they can stumble across a date whenever they walk out the door.

Or the opposite where someone could look so beautiful in their pics, but in real life a totally different person.

At this point I feel like I'm chasing the cream of the crop on Tinder and get the occasional date with an 8+, but you're just one of 7 dates that week. The odds just aren't there.

I've wasted thousands of hours on dates with people that it doesn't click with instantly when we finally meet, but when you meet someone IRL the first meeting is already out of the way and historically the first date is a much better experience because you have already experienced each other's presence. There's something kinetic about it. OLD is more of a checklist.

Now I'm stuck at 29 and don't have as much as courage to ask a woman out in public as I should because I've hidden behind these apps. When it comes down to approaching women in public, even if it's a horrible rejection, you've wasted less time than the 3 days of messaging and texting while trying to get to a date, but it's scary as hell.

And to top it all off, your pictures are 2D, not 3D. I've picked up prettier women in real life because they can hear how I talk, see how I act, get a feel for me as a whole, and feel my sensibilities and emotions.

I've experienced a "Boost" and I could hardly keep up and I'm a slightly above average looking guy. The apps are most likely literally broken for the highly attractive women/men.

I'm sitting here watching Seinfeld as I type this and although it's a fake show, it's pretty cool to see dating interactions play out face to face rather than through a phone

Submitted December 14, 2021 at 01:10AM

Going on a decade of OLD and now just realizing how much it's messed me up.If you're new or thinking about it, please proceed with caution. Use it passively, don't make it a lifestyle like me.From my experience I've found a lot of people in real life to be attractive, but in OLD I would probably swipe left because my standards have exceeded the threshold of only being satisfied with the top tier on the apps. And let's face it, they are so inundated they will never see you AND they are only getting the top tier models at the top of their swipe stack and are not spending a significant about of time everyday because they can stumble across a date whenever they walk out the door.Or the opposite where someone could look so beautiful in their pics, but in real life a totally different person.At this point I feel like I'm chasing the cream of the crop on Tinder and get the occasional date with an 8+, but you're just one of 7 dates that week. The odds just aren't there.I've wasted thousands of hours on dates with people that it doesn't click with instantly when we finally meet, but when you meet someone IRL the first meeting is already out of the way and historically the first date is a much better experience because you have already experienced each other's presence. There's something kinetic about it. OLD is more of a checklist.Now I'm stuck at 29 and don't have as much as courage to ask a woman out in public as I should because I've hidden behind these apps. When it comes down to approaching women in public, even if it's a horrible rejection, you've wasted less time than the 3 days of messaging and texting while trying to get to a date, but it's scary as hell.And to top it all off, your pictures are 2D, not 3D. I've picked up prettier women in real life because they can hear how I talk, see how I act, get a feel for me as a whole, and feel my sensibilities and emotions.I've experienced a "Boost" and I could hardly keep up and I'm a slightly above average looking guy. The apps are most likely literally broken for the highly attractive women/men.I'm sitting here watching Seinfeld as I type this and although it's a fake show, it's pretty cool to see dating interactions play out face to face rather than through a phone