Dating Apps in 2017? Haha. I typed in the word “dating” in my Flickr search bar and what came up? A photo of “First Date Skirt.” And then of course I had to look this up on All Things Jennifer and this post —–made me laugh. Also, I could EASILY substitute the name Mark with Chuck and add 10 years later to the date.

I did quite a bit of internet dating before getting married, this is how HWMMS and I met, 6 years ago. And how I pretty much met everyone but for my HS and right after college boyfriend.

I was out there on the cusp of OK Cupid (it was still mostly silly quizzes at the time.) And WAY before the apps hit the market ending in -inder. So if I’m completely naive when I bring this topic up, I guess count me as one of the olds and move on.

Match.com plays a lot of commercials on channels I mindlessly have on in the background on TV. The ones lately have a new feature called missed connections??? Which to me is HELLO YOU ARE DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO CREATING STALKER TERRITORY. Or, maybe it’s just me.

You have the app on allowing GPS so the other people using the service can see if you are physically in the same area they are? At your favorite restaurant or coffee shop—how quaint! Except, no. No thank you. Isn’t this something that conversation allows for? Finding out if you live in the same area and like the same things and go to the same places? I don’t think I would want the option of having ALL THE PEOPLE who signed into an app to have access to my photo and know if I was just 1/3rd of a mile away.

Now, I don’t know if the -inder swipe left/right dating apps have this capability or not, but it is unsettling to me. I’m all for helping people have access to finding more people who share the same interest to make new friends and develop relationships but at some point, this comes naturally. Starting off a conversation with “so I saw you were at my favorite coffee shop an hour ago…” would turn me off completely.

Thoughts?