Inside the Hive
/The second app I chose because of a ridiculously funny social media blogger, aptly called Daddy Issues. Bumble is a bee-themed app—black and yellow with bee hive shaped icons and small bees that appear if you match with someone. It’s kind of cute, actually. What sets this app apart though, is that the girl has to be the one to send a message first. The guy can’t do anything, except extend the 24-hour window if he really wants to speak to the girl. I liked that part, if only because I didn't get any creepy messages from random people. However, as someone who has never made the first move before, let alone on a dating app, this was slightly terrifying. I may or may not have had a glass of wine before every attempt at the first move.
Gotta love animal puns.
The first person I matched with was Colin. His little bio mentioned how many animal puns he could do, so I started off with that. The conversation lasted about half an hour, and it was entirely filled with puns on his part. It was actually quite enjoyable, and I didn’t mind talking to him. He seemed quite normal, which was a bonus.
The second match was another story completely. His name was Jeremy. He is also the reason I decided to make this blog in the first place. Our conversation started off normal. We spoke of our families—we both have big ones; our hobbies—he’s in accounting, I’m a book nerd; what we do—he’s back in school for the second time, I’m still starting out; even our favorite foods—both Italian. We spoke for a few days, something I haven’t done with anyone on these apps before. He seemed really nice, and I kind of liked him.
But then Friday night, he started asking me about my schedule, when I was free. He was drinking, but so was I, so it seemed okay. Until he turned the tables. Basically, he thought that since I had spoken to him first (even though that’s how the app works), I was ‘in the bag.’ He started asking for sexual favours, photos, even giving me his address so we could start our “foray into the wonderful world of exclusive friends with benefits.” At that point, I didn’t know that was what he was looking for. It was an interesting wakeup call about the actual purpose of the app. Though, I suppose it only takes one person to ruin something.
Bumble results: good concept, love the theme of bees, but I don’t think I’m the person to be on these sorts of apps. A bottle of wine was consumed.
KELLY SPENCE
A 20-something who reads too many romance novels, has a soft spot for wine and anything comfortable, and has decided to blog about her experiences with creepy people on the internet. Hopefully, nothing too traumatizing will happen.
Facebook - OkCupid Profile (created for the experiment)
