By Benny Morales, Staff Reporter
As these lonesome weeks go by, people from all over are beginning to feel impatient with the people they live with. Some, like myself, have gone on dating applications such as Bumble and Tinder to meet new people and have discovered the dating scene has changed during the pandemic.
Just recently, Tinder and Bumble both encouraged a stay at home video chat feature that promoted healthier ways of communicating while still being at home. The video chat works similarly, if not better, than Facetime on the iPhone because both users do not need to have an iPhone for the video chat work.
When matching with someone on Bumble after the stay at home order was announced, I was excited yet hesitant. When making small talk on the app, the uneasy feeling coming from both sides seemed quite evident and the issue had to be addressed.
I asked Shay if this whole COVID-19 problem makes her use the app less or more. Surprisingly, she said more because it has encouraged her to meet people she might not have approached in person.
Although some people may be all for the video chat idea, others like myself are totally against it. I am an extremely awkward person, especially when talking to someone good looking. Text messaging is different because you are able to hide behind the screen and put on a fake persona. While on video chat, you could say or do one thing wrong and things are just completely awkward.
When finally overcoming my fear of video chatting, I was able to have a fun conversation with Shay. Although things were pretty awkward at first I immediately broke the ice by teasing Shay about her 2013 Justin Bieber poster in the background. We both hysterically started laughing which made things seem very comfortable. I guess when video chatting with people you just met, you have to just be yourself. The person on the other screen is most likely just as nervous.
Since the “date” was virtual, I was quick to get used to it. I felt I had a little more confidence when speaking to Shay because in the back of my head I knew I could hang up at any moment and never see, hear, or talk to her ever again.
“I’m honestly really comfortable right now. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t know you or if I’m behind a screen but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be, and I usually do not do these types of things,” Shay said.
While of course, many people are like Shay at the moment, there are others like Kara who just do not care about anything that goes on in the outside world. When matching with Kara on Tinder, I asked her the same question. Kara said that she uses the app, much more than usual, and for various other reasons compared to Shay. Kara was straight to the point about how she was just so “overwhelmed” about all this virus talk and needed to be with someone immediately.
“I don’t want to let this dumb virus ruin my spring break,” Kara said. “I feel so trapped it’s ridiculous.”
Just by talking to two different people, I was able to notice that there are those who do not feel that we are in a crisis and then there are those who are completely opposite.
