BY C STONE | STONE NEWS NETWORK
Q: What's addictive, pointless, and almost guaranteed to leave you feeling cheated and angry?
Did you say dating apps? Wow! Great answer.
Dating apps have been around for over a decade. The novelty of online dating began in the late 90's and early 2000's. It peaked with that awful movie with Tom Hanks and the AOL's "Youv'e got mail" audio clip.
For science, the author spent $120 on 6 months of Tinder Gold and achieved absolutely nothing.
Oh yes, we've had some spicy conversations. But mostly, these conversations were one-sided, and, to be blunt, consisted mostly of scammers.
And Tinder does claim to remove these fake accounts, there is no shortage of these deadbeats scamming people with their romance scams on the daily.
Besides the noisy notifications, unnecessary reminders to "boost" my profile, and to "game" the system by liking few people and rejecting 99% seemed to do nothing but astro-turf my profile.
We had over a hundred likes easily. Of course, my profile was deleted a few weeks ago. The sad legacy of my online dating achievements has only been to expose how low people can go to get money.
The ID verification scam, the safety-check (but really a porn subscription) scam, those awfully far girls in Africa and the Phillippines. Nope.
Save your time.
The true grift of the online dating platforms is the promise of meeting someone new. What you get in reality is completely the opposite. Quite frankley you'd have more luck in a bar than roaming the digital playground of nameless faces who never get back to you.
The platforms are all addictive by nature. Their slot-machine like sounds and notifications when you get a 'like'. The feeling you're missing out on something when you really aren't. That painful gut punch you get after spending 3 days chatting with someone only to have them open up with a classic crypto-scammer sales line.
It just doesn't get more awful than that. I certainly hope there's a special place in hell for those people. Because they deserve it.
What haven't I seen? Women, instead of posting a picture of them selves, use photos of friends, scenery, dinner, pets, or even a dead rat.
The toxic hate on masculinity on some of those profiles can only be described as "don't even bother". Honestly, I enjoyed chatting with a few people, and to be honest, I'll likely re-up another 6 months in the next few weeks to continue the stories for my dear readers.
One of the most interesting things I learned is how people behave in rich countries compared to poor ones. People in poor countries constantly referenced "God" and "family". People in rich countries rarely mentioned faith, but often bragged about possessions or their power through expensive vacation photos. Neither of which impressed me.
Because I'm a straight man only interested in women 18 and up, I never understood why men would sometimes appear in my likes feed. Clearly going against the terms of service, I ignore these desperate losers.
For laughs, a few years ago, I posted myself holding up $3,000 and standing in front of my stocked liquor cabinet. I had the caption "Make it rain" and stated I was looking for women ages 18-55.
I'm a 55 year old man, and you know what? Why not.
The rudeness of some people is what shocked me. Instead of saying hello, it was as if I was doing them a favor. Before we appear to go redline incel, I have to say, these women get harassed by men constantly. So I can understand their hatred to the attention. No harm or foul.
But after a while, it gets boring visiting Italy or Spain searching for that elusive hot single women. The reality was, these women were looking for rich men to support them. Some of them stated it in their profiles. "Seeking a sugar daddy." or "Open to a financial arrangement".
How about no?
In truth I needed a break from this soul-crushing experience. I can take rejection like anyone, but the awful repetition in the chat, the overall experience of all dating apps, makes it more like work than anything else. And who wants to work to date? I chatted with a 28 year old man who spent a year on Tinder. He was equally frustrated. His luck was far easier because of the age and the fact he had many friends to hang out with.
But just watch what happens when you cross 40 years of age. People start to ignore you. Unless you're 18 and hot, it's going to be a pass for most people.
You can learn alot from from online dating apps. You learn how expensive and aggravating they can be. You learn how people love to deceive you - whether age, sex, or relationship status.
My advice if you do decide to sign up for a dating app:
* Stick to a budget
* Never give any personal information to anyone online
* Use a burner phone or VOIP service to obtain an alternate number. Absolutely necessary.
* Spend no more than an hour a day on the apps
* Sign up for no more than 1 subscription at a time
* Under no circumstances should you ever sign up for a lifetime subscription
* Keep your expectations low
* Never invite someone you just met to your home
Good luck, and do let us know if you manage to find anyone on these awful apps.
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