The power of a swipe in 2015 is certainly a strong one and figuring out left or right is a crucial decision nowadays.

Thanks to Tinder, a popular online dating app, users are able to find local men or women near their location and swipe left or right to decide if they want to interact with the other user.

It is a popular app nationwide among singles and sometimes couples, especially among college students.

Mohamed Hanafy, a future biology major who attends San Jose State University and San Jose City College, uses Tinder often in his spare time. He said with a sly smile across his face that the app is, “To meet people.” He likes how it connects the user with many other nearby people who are also looking to meet.

Hanafy emphasized that Tinder is a “hook-up app,” and while he cautioned that he has heard of other people catfishing, or pretending to be somebody else, he will still continue to swipe whenever he is free, and he definitely recommends it to others who are looking to hook up.

Eloisa Marquez, in her last semester at SJCC before getting her A.A. in business, does not use the app herself, but does have friends who do. She described Tinder as a place, “Just to meet people to have sex.”

A friend of Marquez once “hooked up with a guy from Tinder and never saw him again.”

Another one of Marquez’s friends often quotes songs and creates personalities for himself when talking to different matches.
Marquez does not have an opinion of Tinder either way, but with a laugh, she described the concept as “Silly.”

Not everybody is as enthusiastic about Tinder as Marquez’s friends and Hanafy’s are, though.

Klarke, a sophomore who doesn’t have Tinder and is majoring in athletic training, described it as, “weird,” and compared it to a popular online dating site.
“It’s like a teenage E-Harmony,” Klarke said.
Suzanne Guttierez, a psychology professor at SJCC, is also skeptical of the popular new app. She understands the craze behind the app, saying, “It’s appealing and easily accessible to meet a variety of people and to explore different options.”
Despite the popularity of the app, Guttierez warns users to use caution when contacting strangers.
“I strongly advise people to stay away,” Guttierez said, “there should be caution because you don’t know who you are really talking to.”