Most people don’t rely on one small dating app, exclusivity among apps already exists
Lately, it seems like there are more and more “exclusive” dating apps popping up.
For example, there’s the League, which mines sites like LinkedIn for “successful” people. And don’t forget about Tinder’s new Tinder Select option, which bills itself as an exclusive service for elite members.
Some are concerned this rise in selective dating apps will lead to an “us versus them” mentality, where people think of themselves in different classes, which will be detrimental to how people meet.
However, that belief simply doesn’t match up with how most people use dating apps these days.
If people are using a dating app, they may very well be using more than one, or even way more than one, or alternating between them. Why limit their choices?
And let’s not pretend most of these apps aren’t exclusive in one way or another.
For example, there’s a dating app designed specifically for bacon lovers called Sizzl. If you use that app, you’re going to miss out on a lot of connections, even if you are spared a date at a vegan restaurant. But I’m willing to bet most people aren’t lining up to put all their eggs in this bacon-filled basket—as delicious as that sounds. It’s just a fun option.
This example shows that exclusive doesn’t have to be elitist, it can be fun and quirky too. Even though the bacon dating app excludes a whole lot of people too, it’s not controversial. It’s hilarious.
And the list goes on. Did you know, there are also dating apps for farm hands only? That sounds pretty exclusive to me. And of course, there are plenty of matchmaking tools that filter by religion. Exclusivity already exists everywhere in our online dating universe, so why draw the line when it comes to a certain income bracket?
In fact, you could argue that even using a dating app in the first place limits your dating pool significantly. If you relied only on meeting people through your phone you’d miss out on tons of people in the “real world.”
But that doesn’t happen, because a dating app is just one tool that people have at their disposal, and the romance of meeting drunk people at a bar lives on.
And sure, if you bite down hard on the idea that you’re an “elite” person who deserves the cream of the crop of Internet-dwelling strangers, then these apps will reinforce your flawed belief system.
But do we need to scorn these dating apps because shallow people simply exist? No.
They’re just one of many options people have, and if you approach them as someone who isn’t a selfish jerk it’s all the better.
