I came across something called Tinder the other day.

I was struck by the news that a young Australian met an even younger New Zealand woman on Tinder. But a few hours after that encounter, the young woman was dead and the young man accused of her murder.

I am not going to dwell on the details of the case, which is now before the courts.

But it got me thinking. What is this thing called Tinder? How does it work? And does it really result in young men, particularly young women, being placed in dangerous situations?

The first two questions are pretty easy to answer.

For the technically challenged, in other words old people like me, Tinder is a dating app for mobile phones. It is aimed at the 18-30 year old demographic and is a location-based app. Tinder informs you about the people who live nearby and then you may or may not like them anonymously. If someone you like likes you, then Tinder introduces you and allows you to chat within the app. Does it seem perfectly innocent?

It’s apparently the best thing that happens to internet dating and the stats tell, or should sell, the story. One billion games so far, worldwide, which translates to ten million games per day … every day. It has resulted in 300 marriage proposals and five percent of the Australian population of 23 million have a Tinder profile. It’s the brainchild of a couple of Southern California entrepreneurs, but it’s owned by a multinational startup.

Tinder is going to be bigger than Ben Hur.

The intriguing genius behind the app is that it is designed as a game with the motto “just like real life, but better.”

Ask users to log in with their Facebook profile and then make a split second decision on whether or not they like someone’s physical appearance by swiping left or right. Once a combination is made, the rest is up to you.

The result is an app used regularly by everyone from Miss USA to Olympic gold medalists. It is in such demand that the company recently announced that it would add a check mark to celebrity profiles. No publicity yet, but that won’t be far off.

That takes care of the first two questions. But what about the third question I posed? Does it pose any kind of danger to young people, especially young women? That question scares me a little to answer. If I had to give a personal impression of Tinder, it could be summed up in something I read today: if a guy walks up to a girl standing in a bar and asks for point-blank sex, they’ll slap him. Do the same on Tinder and it will be present on 5. It ended the chivalry, eliminated the need to make any kind of real connection and replaced it with an instant image-based attraction where a click confirms your intentions almost always of the carnal kind.

Do you think I’m exaggerating it? Well, check this out. These are some of the responses from people who actually use this app, men and women. We’ll start with the guys because this app really does favor men.

Boy number one: “ALL it took was answering a couple of questions for a random girl to determine that she had ‘passed the serial killer test’ and that it was safe for her to make a late night house call for a … nightstand.

“It was late on a Friday night when I got into bed and thought I’d do a quick Tinder check to see if there were any new matches.

“I got a message from a girl I’ve never talked to before and she was wondering what she was doing.

“After a bit of exchanges, she and her friend called me, we chatted for a few minutes, she said it didn’t sound like a serial killer and then she asked me for my address.

“She had been to a party where she had seen her ex-boyfriend flirt with another girl and she was out for revenge.

“Who was I to stand in the way of a despised woman?

“Shortly after her friend left her, we had a drink to break the ice and then we headed to the room where we had sex.

“He stayed the night, but after he left in the morning we never spoke again.

“Tinder has truly been the greatest dating invention for men.

“With a simple swipe to the right, I can have a random girl in my bed faster than it would take to buy her a drink at a bar.

“No more having to spend hundreds of dollars going to sweaty clubs, trying to strike up a conversation with a hot girl while your biggest, unattractive friend acts like a ‘c ** kblock.

“Real life social roadblocks don’t exist on Tinder and we can be a lot more daring and cheeky right from the start.

“Most of it is small talk that goes nowhere.”

Boy Number Two: “The weirdest moment I’ve had on Tinder is when a girl I caught up with texted me one Sunday saying ‘Hey, I’m here from Sydney and the people I’m staying with aren’t.’ work until 8pm and I need a place to leave my bags while I go out to Nobby Beach ‘

“I accompanied her for about three hours asking her what was in store for me.

“She came and we went to Nobbys. She was an elementary school teacher in Sydney.

“We ended up connecting and she had to call the assistant principal of her school in Sydney the next morning to tell her that she had food poisoning because she was in my bed in the Gold Coast instead of catching her flight home.

“Most of the time it’s a little Tinder talk that turns to nothing, but some girls are quite sassy.

“I usually stay away from girls who use a bikini or lingerie photo as their profile picture.

“Using Tinder is much more socially acceptable than it was 12 months ago. A girl breaks up with her boyfriend and jumps on Tinder … not necessarily to flirt with a guy, but to boost her self-esteem.

“It is much simpler to date, but there is no real connection anymore. One click and you have said all your intentions without saying anything.

“I use Tinder when I’m really bored, but I only talk to girls I want to fuck.”

Girl: “It was like I was out of the loop or something – Tinder – What is Tinder? A colleague explained to me:” It’s like the new era Hot or Not. “Fellow male colleagues joked about it and said,” If I had your age, I would definitely be using that app. “

And so it started, it was like a new toy. I have never been so addicted to using my phone.

“I even let a colleague, who is happily committed to a long-term relationship, take over my account, play single, and ‘reject’ and ‘approve’ all the would-be Tinder guys.

“Just to laugh, he decided to strike up a conversation with one particular couple.

“Sex?”

His answer: “Yes” and it was on.

“My colleague and I were unleashing our inner wild child and we took the conversation to a whole new level, things I would never say to a guy in my life. The thing is on Tinder, you can be whoever you want to be.”

A Tinder user tells the story of how her best friend left her underwear at the house of a boy she had known for a couple of hours only for the boy to threaten to frame her panties and hang them in her room. Charming. Apparently everyone on Tinder has a story of how they met a crazy person who made an untimely and totally inappropriate declaration of carnal lust.

In other words, Tinder is not romantic, seedy, artificial, and superficial. Born of a generation driven by curiosity, daring, boredom and lust with results that are as squalid as they are gratifying.

Of course, Tinder advocates say, believe it or not, that it’s healthy. A way to go out and meet people, gain self confidence and enjoy life. One Tinder user described it as a baptism of fire for the lonely and the heartbroken, the shy and the nerdy, and those looking to have fun. You do it because Tinder will be whatever you want it to be.

I personally don’t buy it. I don’t think I do anything to advance the cause of humanity. But maybe I’m getting old and grumpy.

I’m not going to be the voice of doom and say don’t use Tinder. But at the same time, I urge users of the app to closely follow the Tinder murder trial in Australia. There will surely be a moral in that story.