How to use hook-up culture to your advantage

Here is how to navigate the new rules.

Who would have thought a free app would change the dating landscape so drastically? Whether or not you use the app yourself, it is having an impact on you conduct your love life. This is what you should do to maximise your chances of romantic success in the dating world of 2016.

No sense of adventure

Tinder takes away that uncertainty in the early stages of flirting with someone. Women no longer wonder ?is he into me?? because, well, you swiped right. Dating has become predictable and boring, particularly for those who have been single for a long time. Fortunately, you can use this to your advantage by bringing back that sense of adventure. Some playful banter goes a long way. When you do get to the stage of a date, make it more interesting than the usual dinner and movie combination. A good strategy is a ?surprise? date: tell her you have organised everything, then take her out for a quirky adventure day.

Concentrating your efforts

If you try to do too many things at once, you are going to get mediocre results. This life advice is especially applicable to dating as it exists on Tinder. From a woman?s perspective, Tinder yields a lot of matches, but that is where it ends. Most men seem to have a strategy of swiping right on every female, and sending generic messages to each of them. They are casting a wide net, but they aren?t catching anything. Do not fall into the trap of trying to manage too many matches at once, whether online or offline. Focus on a small number of women at any one time. Put an effort into having meaningful conversations, and you will be much more successful.

A catalogue of people

Arguably one of the darker effects of Tinder is its creation of a catalogue of people to choose from. A girl is perfect for you, but she?s got the wrong hair color for your tastes? A brunette version of her is potentially a swipe away.

This makes it easier to rule out potential partners based on increasingly arbitrary criteria. It makes it easier to dump someone over something minor. The sad truth is that, despite the appearance of an endless suite of women to choose from, your dream girl is as much as a phantasm as she always was. Do not be fooled by the parade of profiles. There is the illusion of endless choice, but each one of those women is a person with both endearing traits and irritating flaws.

Being a gentleman goes a long way

Being courteous is rare in the dating world. Especially since the advent of Tinder, men tend to be more forward, and not in a good way. Whether you are looking for a serious relationship or a casual dalliance, or anything in between, you will be set apart by being polite. In fact, the bar is set even lower than being polite: just do not be vulgar. Ask any single woman for her dating horror stories, and she will tell you about men who use crude lines to try to get into her pants. Simply not being ?that guy? will serve you well, particularly for online dating.