But in the end, I had to wonder if this experience truly reflected how the online dating scene truly functioned
On my way to find the restroom, I passed by one of the bedrooms where I found the single mothers all gathered around a computer desk. As I entered the room, the women were all focused on the computer screen while one of them was surfing a few dating websites
I remember the ladies behaving all giggly and saying either, “Go for it, swipe right.” Or saying, “Oh no, swipe left.” At the time I didn’t know what those comments meant. But in only a matter of about five minutes, I learned that swiping right meant that these women were interested in learning more about the guy’s online profile. I also learned that swiping left meant that these women were not interested in the guy or even reading his online profile
The longer I stayed in the room observing these women interact on these various dating websites, the more I learned about these online dating platforms and about how these women were navigating through them. I noticed that the women would collectively “vote” on whether to swipe right or to swipe left. After about thirty minutes of observing their behavior, I learned that some of these women actually had plans to go out to a nearby club where they planned on meeting a few of the guys they had swiped right for.
Since I wasn’t much of a drinker, I volunteered to drive these women to the club so that they wouldn’t risk getting a DUI. But serving as the designated driver also allowed me to go inside with these women and observe them “on the prowl.” One of the first things I noticed was that the guys who they ended up meeting at the club were much younger than they were. These guys tended to be squared-jawed and had somewhat of a muscular build. Although the women were all friends, I could tell that they were somewhat competing with one another for these younger guys’ attention.
The only woman to leave with one of the younger square-jawed hunks didn’t end up actually dating him
By the time we all exited the club, only one of the women had actually left with one of the guys that had shown up to meet them. The women that left the club without a guy had played an interesting game. Despite the fact that they didn’t leave with any of the guys, they all seemed to have had a blast drinking and flirting with these young hunks.
Perhaps these women were competing with one another and were not acting the way they would have if they had been on a date by their self. I also had to wonder if the “swiping event” back at the party house was influenced by the social dynamics of the group. Would some of these women have swiped right on a guy’s profile that was less of a square-jawed hunk had they been navigating the dating website on their own? In short, I had to wonder how much the “group think” phenomenon had been in play.
Later I came to find out that some of my suspicions were confirmed. I found this out in a round-about way. A few weeks later, when the summer college semester began, that young hunk happened to be seated in the front row of the classroom where the course I was teaching was being held.
Since he recognized me from the night at the club, he wasn’t averse to me asking some questions about what happened to him and the woman who he had left the club with. He ended up telling me that he and that woman hadn’t really hit it off. When I asked, real ArmГЄnia noivas de ordem de correio “Why not?” he told me that they didn’t have much in common. He went on to explain to me that when he found out that she had two teenage daughters, it was then that he knew they were in “two different places in their lives.”