My no-love/hate relationship with online dating apps has been extensively documented on this blog. But just in case, here is a refresher of some of the top incidents:

• Microsoft Paint is required for this story
• It’s like a Kinder Surprise, but without the Kinder
• I do so love being called a racist. Turns me on!
• I just found out I am a tranny
• Tinder isn’t the right place to discuss feminism?!
• I quit! (online dating)
• Hubba Hubba

To summarize, my experience with online dating has been overwhelmingly negative: a dehumanizing experience, where guys and girls treat each other as commodities, and basic manners are non-existent. Long before Beaut came into the picture, I’d disactivated all my profiles online except for Tinder, which I kept as a source of entertainment and blog material: my guy friends loved impersonating me and trying their luck during booze-fuelled evenings. During the holidays, I deleted Tinder, to free up space on my phone. Haven’t missed it one bit.

I miss it even less having read this article, which states that Tinder has added a health section to its app, including a function that allows users to identify the nearest STD clinic to their location. Now THAT really sets the tone for romantic sexy times.

(…) Medical experts warned the surge in popularity of dating and casual sex apps was fueling a rise in sexually transmitted infections.

Dr Peter Greenhouse, of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said the apps could trigger an ‘explosion’ of HIV in heterosexual people. (…) he said: ‘You are able to turn over partners more quickly with a dating app and the quicker you change partners, the more likely you are to get infections. What really worries me is that we are just at a tipping point for HIV. If enough people change partners quickly, and they’ve got other untreated sexually transmitted infections, it might just start an explosion of HIV in the heterosexual population. Apps could do that’.

Experts also warned that apps such as Tinder have made casual sex as available as ordering takeout.

Yummy.

I’m NEVER online dating again. Being treated as a commodity AND putting my health at risk? No thanks. I’ll go the old-fashioned route of meeting people in real life, depending on friends and serendipity.

#oldschool

#vanillaandproudofit

#whatistheworldcomingto

#catlesscatladywithnostdsyall