Tinder's plague has officially broken out, and now it's easier than ever to judge a book by its cover. The iPhone app is fun because of its novelty and the short-lived thrill of connecting with someone, but technology's newest guilty pleasure is further affirmation of our generation's diminishing social skills. Obviously, Tinder is not to be taken too seriously. We assume that those on Tinder are not hoping to find their true love. But Tinder is a product of a larger phenomenon.
DePauw's campus simply does not cater to substantial relationships with the opposite sex. Tinder is a reflection of a dating culture on campus that values surface and efficiency over the development of an intimate relationship. At DePauw, arranging casual sex can be relatively easy, but having an organic conversation or a real relationship with a member of the opposite sex (or a member of the same sex) is difficult.
Every member of this editorial board has spent a semester abroad, and we returned to campus with the affirmation that the dating culture at DePauw is not normal. In the real world, people go on dates, maybe several dates before sexual intimacy comes into the picture. Sex doesn't have to be the sole motivation of getting to know someone.
At DePauw, it's just the opposite. A casual hookup comes first, maybe several casual hookups before a personal conversation takes place. Sex appears to be the purpose of talking to a member of the opposite gender. And even then, alcohol is almost always involved, and usually there are others present during sexual activity.
Few people on campus have their own bedrooms. At DePauw, usually two or three people share a room, and cold dorms are a whole different story. Let's just say it - it's weird. Hearing someone else having sex is uncomfortable, and knowing someone else is present during the act is also uncomfortable. This doesn't make it easy to have a normal relationship.
But college is a time to experiment. We're not saying that casual hookups are necessarily a bad thing. But when casual sex continuously prevents anyone from getting to know each other outside the bedroom (or cold dorm, or rack room, or whatever) this presents a problem, especially in terms of developing healthy dating habits.
It is not our intention to offer a solution to this problem, we just want to pose the question: why is this our normal?