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The trials and tribulations of online dating

Social experiment viral videos need to stop

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The clash of self-consciousness and poor

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> Why students should take a gap year

Jason GokHo Ing
Contributor

 

For as long as I] can remember, the
idea of going to college straight out of
high school was seen not as a choice,
but a mandatory requirement. For
generations this mentality has been
passed down from loving parents to
their children with the hopes that their
offspring will achieve fulfilling careers
thanks to post-secondary training.
These attitudes are not completely
unfounded, as higher education does
correlate with a larger net income.
According to a 2014 report by the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers
with a bachelor’s degree make over
$488 weekly compared to those with
only a high school diploma. With
such a large discrepancy in wages it
would appear to make perfect sense
for parents to nag children who
choose to forgo further schooling,
even if it’s just for a little while.
However, even though education
does pay its dividends, rushing into
post-secondary without proper planning
can have disastrous consequences.
V.N. Gordon, author of The Undecided
College Student: An Academic and
Career Advising Challenge found

that roughly 75 per cent of college
students change their major at least
once prior to graduation. Possible
reasons for changing majors were
either that students hated the course
material or were disappointed with
the career prospects associated with
their intended career path. While one
can argue that experimenting with
different occupations throughout
college is beneficial, the financial
loss and potential damage towards a
student’s GPA cannot be ignored.
Instead of immediately choosing to
pursue the first job that comes to mind
right after secondary school, I believe
that it is imperative that young adults
take some time outside of their studies
to evaluate who they are and what
exactly they want to get out of college.
This process can start by discovering
what careers are in-demand on websites
like Career Cruising and WorkBC. In
addition, students can use this time
productively by taking up jobs and
volunteer positions that are related to
their desired career so that they can
determine if that line of work is right for
them. An example could be volunteering
at a hospital if someone aspired to be
a nurse, or working as a bank teller if
they were interested in finance. These
positions look great on a resume and

provide opportunities for youngsters

to connect with potential employers.
These steps may seem small at

first but narrowing down what you

really want for a career could save you a

mountain of future debt. The importance

Tinder is great, but it's not the same
as meeting people in real life

> The trials and tribulations of online dating

Jessica Berget
Opinions Editor

 

have a love-hate relationship with
Tinder. On one hand, it’s great because
it provides you the opportunity to
meet and hang out with cool people
or engage in the occasional sexual
liaison. On the other hand, if you never
get around to talking to many of your
matches, it becomes a haunted house,
full of the ghosts of potential matches
that you never had time for or could
be bothered to connect with. They
serve as a reminder that Tinder is a
godless land, and that you might be
better off just meeting people offline.
Meeting people on Tinder is a
gamble; you never really know what
they're going to be like until you meet
them in person. When you do meet
someone, it takes about 30 seconds to
determine if youre attracted to them
or not based on how they look and how
they carry themselves, something that
is hard to do when youre just looking at
pictures. On the other hand, when you
meet people in real life it’s much easier
to get a better sense of who they are.
On Tinder, I often hum and haw as
to whether I find someone attractive.

Oftentimes, pictures don’t really do
their subjects justice. I’ve been on
Tinder dates where I thought the
person was less attractive in real life
than the pictures on their profile, and
dates where the person turned out
to be more attractive. It just goes to
show that pictures don’t really show
much, and the only way to get to know
someone is to physically meet them.
A decisive factor for me is their

personality. If ] meet someone and I can’t
decide if I find them attractive or not at
first, 1 can become attracted to them if I
find we have a lot in common and they
have a great personality. However, that’s
often hard to gauge on an online dating
app where looks are a crucial factor.

It’s hard to get a sense of someone’s
personality over an online dating app.
Sure, you can read their bio, check out
their Instagram, and maybe even look at

  

Photo by Analyn Cuarto

customer service

And more!

 

of a college education is invaluable.
Nonetheless, I believe the pursuit for the
perfect career is best done by leaving
time for yourself first to determine

what you really want out of life.

your common likes, but people’s online
persona and actual personality can be
two entirely different things. It’s difficult
to get a sense of a person by just looking
at a couple pictures and a short bio. You
get a better understanding after you
message them for a bit, but you've still
never sure about who they are or what

they’re like until you actually meet them.

Another frustration I have with
Tinder is when people stop messaging
you or the conversation becomes
dry. People get busy and don’t have
time for a dating app, or they just run
out of things to say, and that’s fine,
but it’s annoying when you really
wanted to keep talking to that person.
Otherwise, when you meet someone
in real life they can’t just stop talking
to you while you're hanging out with
them, and it’s easier to naturally keep
a conversation going because physical
connections are stronger than texting.

There are a lot of problems with
Tinder, but it’s easy, and all it takes is
a couple messages to meet new people.
As much as I dislike the app, I’m too
lazy and shy to meet people in real life,
like most people are. I guess in the end
T’'ll just stick to the endless cycle of
deleting and re-downloading the app.

Illustration by Cara Seccafien