“Discover those around you. Tinder finds out who likes you nearby and connects you if you’re both interested”

Tinder. The dating app. Put in your postcode. Browse through a selection of men/women. Ruthlessly discard those who don’t quite fit your attractiveness barometer and give a big fat yes to those who do. If they say yes too, congratulations, you’re put in touch and can run off into the sunset together. A fairytale ending?

Society is always finding new ways to meet potential partners; dating ads in the local paper, speed dating, blind dating, double dating, lock and key parties, online dating and now, app dating.

But this isn’t dating’ in its traditional form.  A date is a form of courtship between two people, you might go for dinner, catch a show or go to the cinema. Tinder is a way of sourcing people nearby for casual sex. Described to me by a colleague as a ‘sex app’, its more of a sex-sat-nav.

Is it fair to judge those who use the app? As our lives get busier, careers become harder to juggle with personal lives, isn’t this just making sure we can have it all? An average Saturday night for a single boy or girl between the ages of 18-30 involves getting dressed up, so as to appear immediately appealing to the opposite sex, going to a club or a bar and seeking out the most attractive person on the dance floor. Typically we don’t engage in a conversation before deciding we’re attracted to someone – so isn’t Tinder the same?

Colleagues I’ve asked have either seen the app as way to find casual ‘hook-ups’ or gone on dates and found that they haven’t heard from people again, with the main opinion being that they felt the guy or girl was after one thing and became disinterested when it was clear they weren’t on the same wavelength.

Apps such as Tinder usually appear out of nowhere with a lot of hype and discussion. Hundreds of young singletons will sign up hoping to get what they want out of it, eventually losing interest after several months.

Its possible that this is the future of dating, but only for those that choose to stick around. Tinder could be the ‘sex app’ of the future but it could also be a vehicle for those who want to find that ‘special someone’ in their local area, when the casual sex hunters have become bored with it…only time will tell.

Sian Jones, 23.