Tringe.org, launched at the end of October, is a dating website that gives students at Trinity College Dublin the opportunity to sort through a dating pool made up exclusively of other Trinity students. Modelled on the popular dating app Hinge, hence the name, the site requires users to confirm a Trinity student email address to gain access.
The launch of this site inevitably raises questions about the future of dating culture within student communities. Are we moving towards a world where romantic connections are formed online rather than in lectures, societies, and pubs? And should Edinburgh students follow suit?
I would argue that the closest Edinburgh currently has to a singles mixer is the fourth floor of the main library. Whilst the other floors are filled with students locked into academic despair, the fourth floor is far from a purely studious space. It can best be described as a jungle of hungry students prowling the rows of laptops in search of a potential mate. Whether their infatuations are rooted in true attraction or just procrastination, these feelings are often confessed on The Edinburgh Tab’s Instagram, with students vaguely professing their love for ‘that third year with the green glasses’. Whether this approach has actually ever worked for anyone, I would love to know.
Tringe’s ‘missed connections’ feature may offer a more effective solution to these campus lost loves, giving students a dedicated place to post about (and hopefully find) someone they met once. This still preserves the spontaneity of meeting in person, but offers a second chance to make a move if courage fails the first time.
A student-only site would also eliminate many of the issues students face on other dating apps. Truly nothing brings me more entertainment than ‘playing Hinge’ on my friends’ accounts. Alas, the pickings do seem to be slim. First, there’s the Edinburgh local who actually studies somewhere else in Scotland. Falling for someone who lives in the city during holidays but is miles away during term time is hardly ideal. But this is a subtle beast compared to the stag-doer, here only for a weekend of booze and questionable decisions; they are very much ‘here for a good time, not a long time’. A student-only platform, while it may risk some awkward campus encounters, would undoubtedly make finding a genuinely viable date involve far less scrolling.
However, by moving away from mainstream apps to a dedicated platform, we risk making dating almost too convenient. I’m not convinced that a super-efficient app being the default route to romance would have a positive impact on the student community. Dating at university is chaotic and occasionally embarrassing, but ultimately very successful. With around 56 per cent of Edinburgh students finding love at University, and over a third of these relationships ending in marriage, it seems like we are doing just fine by ourselves. It makes sense: university is a unique opportunity to be surrounded by a huge number of single people with similar interests to you.
All in all, whilst a dedicated student dating app would make connecting online much more efficient, it would be a shame for algorithms and swiping to overtake the organic connections which make dating at University so varied and exciting.
“Dating Apps On Phone” by Scribbler.com Images is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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The Merits and Pitfalls of University-Specific Dating Apps
Tringe.org, launched at the end of October, is a dating website that gives students at Trinity College Dublin the opportunity to sort through a dating pool made up exclusively of other Trinity students. Modelled on the popular dating app Hinge, hence the name, the site requires users to confirm a Trinity student email address to gain access.
The launch of this site inevitably raises questions about the future of dating culture within student communities. Are we moving towards a world where romantic connections are formed online rather than in lectures, societies, and pubs? And should Edinburgh students follow suit?
I would argue that the closest Edinburgh currently has to a singles mixer is the fourth floor of the main library. Whilst the other floors are filled with students locked into academic despair, the fourth floor is far from a purely studious space. It can best be described as a jungle of hungry students prowling the rows of laptops in search of a potential mate. Whether their infatuations are rooted in true attraction or just procrastination, these feelings are often confessed on The Edinburgh Tab’s Instagram, with students vaguely professing their love for ‘that third year with the green glasses’. Whether this approach has actually ever worked for anyone, I would love to know.
Tringe’s ‘missed connections’ feature may offer a more effective solution to these campus lost loves, giving students a dedicated place to post about (and hopefully find) someone they met once. This still preserves the spontaneity of meeting in person, but offers a second chance to make a move if courage fails the first time.
A student-only site would also eliminate many of the issues students face on other dating apps. Truly nothing brings me more entertainment than ‘playing Hinge’ on my friends’ accounts. Alas, the pickings do seem to be slim. First, there’s the Edinburgh local who actually studies somewhere else in Scotland. Falling for someone who lives in the city during holidays but is miles away during term time is hardly ideal. But this is a subtle beast compared to the stag-doer, here only for a weekend of booze and questionable decisions; they are very much ‘here for a good time, not a long time’. A student-only platform, while it may risk some awkward campus encounters, would undoubtedly make finding a genuinely viable date involve far less scrolling.
However, by moving away from mainstream apps to a dedicated platform, we risk making dating almost too convenient. I’m not convinced that a super-efficient app being the default route to romance would have a positive impact on the student community. Dating at university is chaotic and occasionally embarrassing, but ultimately very successful. With around 56 per cent of Edinburgh students finding love at University, and over a third of these relationships ending in marriage, it seems like we are doing just fine by ourselves. It makes sense: university is a unique opportunity to be surrounded by a huge number of single people with similar interests to you.
All in all, whilst a dedicated student dating app would make connecting online much more efficient, it would be a shame for algorithms and swiping to overtake the organic connections which make dating at University so varied and exciting.
“Dating Apps On Phone” by Scribbler.com Images is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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