In the last ten years, social media has become a huge danger to young people. Social media gives the public access to your personal information, resulting in easy stalking or identity theft.

Tinder is an iPhone dating app, most commonly known for one time hook ups. This app requires the user to connect to their Facebook account and turn on location services. Tinder will find your matches by GPS and link all your personal information from your Facebook. After finding matches near you, Tinder lets you scroll through photos of your matches.  If you approve of the match, based solely on appearance, you swipe to the right. If you do not like the match, you swipe to the left to pass.  If both off you ‘like’ each other, it is a match and you can message each other in the app.

From a young teenager’s point of view, the app seems fun and a harmless. However, the location feature raises high safety threats. The app exposes both your location and some personal information from your Facebook account.  There is also the risk of being matched with people using fake accounts. Young people need to be educated on the dangers of this app and know how to use it safely.

Tinder has made several security updates since the app was created in 2012.  However, they still have not worked through all their security glitches. Appthority is a company that assesses apps for possible security risks. They have stated in 2014, that Tinder is not safe for users. The app received a very low Appthority Trust Score according to Kevin Watkins, CTO and co-founder of Appthority.  The  App still exposes a lot of the users Facebook information, often without the user even being aware.  It also shares the users exact distance away from other users.

Tinder needs to make some changes to their safety policies to protect young people. Tinder currently allows anyone over the age of 13 to use the app. This app is an extreme danger to young teenagers and there is no need for them to have access to Tinder.  Parents of young teenagers need to monitor their children’s social media activity, especially with apps like Tinder. Along with changing the age requirements, Tinder should also change the location settings.  There is no reason that the users exact location should be available for others to see.  Tinder should simply use the general area, the app will still be able to match by location but it will keep the users safer.

In summary, it all comes down to awareness of the dangers of social media and parent involvement.  Young teenagers need to recognize that apps like Tinder are not simply a fun game, it can be dangerous and harmful to them. Even if Tinder continues to make safety changes, parents need to be aware of the information their children put on social media.