How To Find Out If Teen Daughter Is Registered On A Dating Site

Is Your Teen on Tinder?

Posted August 16, 2014, 2:00 pm past

When the editor at TeenLife suggested I do some research on teens and Tinder, my get-go thought was that she was talking about a Ke$ha vocal (that song turns out to be "Timber," thus proving once again I am not as in the know every bit I think I am.) Once I did a little inquiry, my 2nd thought was, "Why would a teen use this app?" Teens accept tons of places to find other teens to appointment and socialize with—school, sports, clubs, religious organizations, work, etc. I could non understand the allure of an app similar this.

What is Tinder?

Rosette Pambakian, VP of Communications & Brand Partnerships at Tinder explained, "Tinder is not a dating website. Information technology is a social discovery platform."

Users download the app and log in through Facebook. A user's first name, age, profile picture, interests and bio are pulled from their Facebook folio. Users then select whether they want to see profiles of males or females, their age range and relative distance from them. Pambakain points out, "We practice not go more granular than one mile so a user's exact location will never be known."

Tinder then browses through profiles to find users they think would be interested in ane some other. A user swipes right to "like" or left to "nope." If both people swipe right on each other it results in a match and they can begin chatting inside the app.

Tinder is a free app and users demand to take a Facebook account. As with Facebook, the minimum age requirement to ready up a Tinder account is 13. As a safety precaution, users age xiii-17 tin can simply connect with other users in this age range. In add-on, Pambakian says, "Users are able to rapidly and easily written report and block anyone that engages in offensive or inappropriate behavior on Tinder. We monitor and delete any profile that violates our terms of use." Tinder as well requires a double "opt-in" meaning both users need to "like" each other before they can communicate. Tinder estimates thirteen-17 year olds only make up 7% of their user base of operations.

Some accept compared Tinder to the sometime Hot or Not website. Judging a person on appearance alone seems superficial and not the best manner to come across someone. Just Pambakian argues, "Tinder emulates man interaction. When you walk into a room, the first thing you notice about someone is their physical appearance. Once you engage in chat y'all look for commonalities such as common friends and mutual interests to help plant trust between ii people. The Tinder experience is built the same way except it's more efficient since nosotros testify y'all what you have in common with other users."

Why Are Teens Using Tinder?

While I was surprised that teens would utilise Tinder, the company is not. Pambakian says, "Tinder is a great way to meet new friends.

Essentially all we are doing is facilitating an introduction between ii people who are interested in getting to know each other improve. It's up to them to utilize information technology for making friends or if they are just looking to come across who is effectually them."

With such a huge in person dating field (school, sports, etc.), why would teens choose to meet someone online? Many teens seem to similar the anonymity and the concept of hooking upward or dating someone that they would non have to see on a daily basis.

Shannon*, a xix yr-old higher sophomore has a Tinder business relationship. Shannon explained, "My friends set information technology upward, but I never actually apply information technology. I do occasionally look at the profiles and 'swipe' on the beautiful guys, only I have never met any of them in person."

Shannon let me await at some of the profiles Tinder had suggested to her. I was surprised to encounter some of the guys were in their late twenty'south but since she is nineteen, she does not have any age restrictions. Afterward a few in 'like swipes', several of the guys initiated conversations with her. Their comments ranged from clever to sweetness and kind of corny to shockingly vulgar—especially for an introduction. Shannon did not respond to whatsoever of the messages and did not programme to.

But there are some teens that are meeting up with the people they connect with on Tinder. Ashley is xviii and met her current young man through the site. The 2 have been dating for a piddling over a month. Ashley says, "It's just a summertime fling, but information technology'due south been fun. I spent my summer working and wouldn't have met someone otherwise."

Keeping Teens Safe

In general, parents need to know what sites and apps their teens are using, who they are talking to and how they are representing themselves. Be wary that a person that sounds too adept to exist true online probably is. Setting up a fake Tinder account is fairly easy. In fact, this past July, Conan O'Brien and Dave Franco did a video where they created fake Tinder accounts and went to meet their existent-life matches.

Although O'Brien's skit was a comedic, the danger of existence matched with someone who is not who they say they are on Tinder is very existent. Predators tin set fake accounts to avoid the age restrictions and connect with younger teens.

There are also teen boys who set up accounts with much older ages in hopes of hooking up with older women. Connie*, a divorced mother of 3 says, "I decided to try Tinder in hopes that I might meet someone locally that I would be interested in dating. Instead, I had several matches of teen boys with 'cougar complexes' that desire to 'get with' an older woman. Their ages did non lucifer their profile pictures so I dismissed them immediately. For those of us really interested in finding someone, it is frustrating that the site is not policed for misrepresentation."

Teens need to remember that people they meet online are strangers—regardless of what they already know well-nigh each other—and should proceed with circumspection, especially when choosing to meet an online connexion in person. Teens tend to be bolder with their words online than in person and over share data. This can effect in miscommunications and injure feelings. Parents need to remind their teen that in that location is another person on the other stop of the screen with feelings, too.

* Names changed to protect privacy

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Randi Mazzella

Randi Mazzella is a freelance writer and mother of three from New Jersey. She is a Contributing Editor for Raising Teens Magazine and writes monthly for the blog Barista Kids.