Online dating can be a minefield.
Fake accounts, bad intentioned users and conversations that can only be classified as cringeworthy.
But for those using apps like Tinder, finding a legitimate connection with someone can be hindered by a factor you don’t always think about; your location.
What happens if your search range on the app is 25 miles, but your “true love” is 26 miles away?
Sure, that may be overthinking it, but just like in real life, it’s a real possibility that you could be passing by your potential significant other simply because they’re located slightly outside your search distance.
There are 1.4 billion swipes and 26 million matches per day on Tinder.
One of those matches lead to Arianna Johnson meeting her husband Ben.
Arianna said she wasn’t expecting to meet her future husband through Tinder.
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She had been using the app for a year on and off, going on a few dates, with three turning into what she considers actual relationships.
At the time, Arianna had her search distance maxed out to 100 miles.
“I did it because it allows for potential matches,” Arianna said.
Arianna recalls Ben being around 20 to 30 miles away from her when the two originally matched.
For Arianna, distance wasn’t going to be the biggest hurdle in meeting someone, but talking to a stranger might have been.
“When you go to a coffee shop…you don’t know if a person is single or taken,” Arianna said. “It’s ‘hard to talk to a total stranger…If I saw my husband in public without Tinder, I probably would have never gone up to talk to him.”
Unfortunately for the rest of us, cases like Arianna and Ben’s serve as an outlier to overall online dating statistics.
According to Pew Research, only 5% of Americans who are married or are in committed relationships say they met their significant other online.
The good news is, Pew Research also indicates that online dating has lost much of its negative stigma, with only 23% of American adults believing people who use online dating sites are desperate, and 59% now say that Online dating is a good way to meet people.
So now we can swipe away without the majority of people giving us the stare down.
Small victories right?
Arianna Johnson met her husband Ben on Tinder.
You should be worrying about the truly important things when using online dating.
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Things like coming up with a witty pick-up line they’ve never heard of before, or making sure your pictures and bio page describe you as the perfect match, straying away from the hyperbolic nonsense that would lead your date to realize you are way lamer than they initially thought.
In all seriousness, the biggest obstacle preventing you from meeting that special someone might still be starting that initial conversation.
Stressing about missing your “true love” because you didn’t set your search distance high enough is superfluous.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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What It Really Means To Be A Woman During This Election
On January 20th, 2009, many Americans wept with joy that we had elected our very first African American President.
And when Obama was actually inaugurated on that day, America’s ideals changed for the better, and history was made.
Thunderous applause exploded in the streets of our cities as we all looked at one another smiling and discussing how far we had come.
For every individual who is dedicated to equality and the teachings of the Civil Rights Movement, Obama’s presidency was more than gratification for electing a smart, center-left Democrat into office.
That moment also stood for the thousands of advocates who fought for liberty and democracy for all around the country.
This was for the legs that carried scores of brave Americans from Selma to Montgomery, for the students in Little Rock, and for all of us that grew up knowing the “I Have A Dream” speech backwards and forwards while having the privilege of never knowing what it felt like to dream of our own freedom and opportunity.
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Now, Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee for President, and we are less enthused.
But failing to acknowledge this momentous piece of American history would be a disservice to the women who fought for suffrage and equal rights.
In a now famous DNC video montage of all the past male presidents, the glass shatters and Hillary appears, “I can’t believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet”.
In 1919 women were granted the right to vote, second wave feminism fought for women’s sexual, familial, and economic freedom, and today, women’s rights fight for equal pay, respect, the right to choose, and racial and sexual liberty for all.
This is the time in history that America has been struggling towards, and we are taking it for granted.
To be a woman at this time in history means to be a woman who can vote, who can work, use birth control, and maybe even be president.
Hillary might not be the woman that we have all been waiting for, but she represents the moment that we have all been waiting for and that cannot be disregarded.
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Her nomination is even more important and profound when you compare her to the Republican nominee.
While Donald Trump attempts to throw America back in history, to a time when fascists ruled with impunity around the world, when your race and religion separated you in your own country, when fear drove people to commit unforgivable acts of hatred and violence, Hillary represents something grander and more fundamentally American.
She is the first woman to be nominated as a major party nominee for President, but she is also a socially empathetic, driven, and passionate leader that cares about people.
The stark difference between her and Trump makes this election an important choice for the kind of America we want to be.
Are we the kind that allows such an unqualified and odious meathead of a man to become commander-in-chief, or are we the kind that is ready to Elect a woman?
This choice goes beyond four years of a single presidency. Like Obama, Hillary Clinton will become a historic model of America.
This is what our children will know about.
They too will learn the “I Have A Dream” speech, and now they will learn the story of the first Black President’s election, and maybe, they will even learn about the first female president.
This is big, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
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Of course, people have their complaints about Hillary, and that should be recognized, but this is about so much more than the individual candidate, and this is about avoiding our children learning about the rude and racist 45th president, Adolf- I mean Donald Hitler- sorry, Trump.
We might have our very first female president, and that in it of itself is something to extol.
Like Cory Booker said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention, “Generations of heroic Americans have made our nation more inclusive, more expansive, and more just”. Whatever your feelings of Hillary Clinton may be you cannot disagree that she is far more likely to uphold this ideal than Trump.
Martin Luther King Jr. once explained that, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
There is controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton, but there is so much to appreciate and afford to this woman.
It may feel different than how we dreamt it would, but it is still so incredible, and we should feel proud.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
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Textbook Company Receives Backlash for Interpreting Slaves As “Workers” and “Immigrants”
A Texas mother took to YouTube to voice her frustrations after textbook giant McGraw-Hill rewrote slavery out of history. In a section titled “Passage of Immigration,” Roni Dean-Burren noticed that slaves were referred to as “workers” and “immigrants.”
The passage reads, “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.”
“The Atlantic slave trade brought millions of workers … notice the nuanced language there. Workers implies wages … yes?” Dean-Burren wrote on her Facebook.
Dean-Burren notes in her video that the Textbook also includes a passage saying that many Europeans and English people “came over to work as indentured servants for little or no pay.”
McGraw Hill heard of the backlash and took to Facebook to respond to Dean-Burren, announcing it will be updating the textbook in its next print and in digital format.
“We believe we can do better,” McGraw-Hill posted on its Facebook. “To communicate these facts more clearly, we will update this caption to describe the arrival of African slaves in the U.S. as a forced migration and emphasize that their work was done as slave labor.”
This isn’t the first time Texas textbooks have received backlash for revisionism – ten university scholars accused Texas textbooks of including biased statements about Islam, Native Americans, capitalism, religion and the Civil War.
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Colleges Around The World Really Aren’t So Good At This “Free Speech” Thing
Watch what you spout on Facebook – and anywhere on social media – because it could come back to bite you. Or get you kicked out of college.
Today’s college students grew up with social media, so it’s easy to make a connection as to why in recent years an increasing number of students all over the globe have been under fire for expressing their opinions, on platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. One of the most controversial subjects is, not surprisingly, religion.
Should universities and colleges regulate and prohibit certain types of speech? In a new survey of college students, 69% said colleges should be able to establish policies that restrict the use of racial slurs and other language that is intentionally offensive to certain groups.
Gallup surveyed more than 3,000 college students for the study conducted by the Knight Foundation and the Newseum Institute.
When it comes to free speech and First Amendment rights, all speech isn’t created equal in the eyes of colleges, and in some cases students have been expelled for unsavory code of conduct, with religious issues at the heart of it.
Sheffield, England
Earlier this year, a Christian university student in England was expelled from his courses in social work after he expressed views about gay marriage and quoted the bible on his Facebook page.
Someone filed a complaint, and the University of Sheffield suspended him two months later.
Felix Ngole, 38, was in the process of getting his master’s in social work, when he posted a supportive message about Kim Davis, the Kentucky marriage clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The university argued that Ngole’s beliefs are discriminating and not appropriate for someone entering the social work profession.
Ngole says he’s the one being discriminated against. Universities censoring students for their views and beliefs raises major concerns about the value of free speech, his supporters say.
“The university has failed to protect his freedom of speech under Article 10 [of the British Human Rights Act] and his freedom of religion under Article 9,” Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Ngole said in a statement. “Students are entitled to discuss and debate their own personal views on their own Facebook page.”
Some people do in fact use a public forum like Facebook as if they’re having a conversation in their living room.
A student at DuPage University in Glen Ellyn, Illinois talking at an on campus event. Questions about free speech on campus is back in the news. Photo Credit: COD Newsroom/ Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The old adage “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” typically describes principles of free speech, although not so much in the university setting lately.
Ngole is a prime example.
“The university claims my views are discriminatory, but I am the one being discriminated against because of my expression of Christian beliefs,” he said in an interview with HuffPost UK. “I wonder whether the university would have taken any action if a Muslim student who believes in Shari’a law, with its teaching about women and homosexuality, had made moderate comments on his Facebook page. I don’t think so.”
Fort Worth, Texas
In a similar case, a student at Texas Christian University was kicked out of school last year and instructed to take a diversity class and see a psychiatrist. Student Harry Vincent described Baltimore rioters as “hoodrat criminals” on his Facebook page and in a tweet, on a different topic, stated Islam is “clearly not a religion of peace.”
His messages offended a woman named Kelsey, who compiled his “disgusting and racist” posts and shared them on her Tumblr asking people to email TCU to let the university know Vincent was “shedding a bad light” on the institution.
The dean’s office received more than 20 complaints and Vincent was suspended by the university. He was charged with infliction of bodily or emotional harm and disorderly conduct. He appealed the decision but the university denied his appeal, stating “The choices you made caused harm to other individuals. These types of comments are not acceptable at TCU and directly contradict our mission of being ethical leaders and responsible citizens in a global community.”
Vincent said he probably won’t return to TCU because he will not attend a school that doesn’t support the Constitution or the school’s own student handbook.
Nampa, Idaho
Religion is a touchy subject, and universities don’t want their constituency threatened – whether by a student or faculty. In a case involving a tenured professor in Idaho, social media wasn’t necessarily at play, but the broader spectrum of First Amendment rights.
Professor Thomas Oord of Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho was laid off last year under the guise of budget cuts.
Oord, a prolific writer and popular theologian, believes in evolution and he clashed with the university’s president on theology.
One writer pastor named Tim Suttle put it brilliantly when he said Northwest Nazarene should have just been honest and “own up” to why Oord was fired via email by president David Alexander.
“It’s such a failure of nerve to call it a budget cut,” Tim Suttle wrote. “Be straight about it, man… ‘I fired him because I disagree with his theological positions and he’s a pain in my butt. He’s a brilliant theologian but I don’t want him at my school and that’s my call.’ I would disagree with it, but at least your integrity is intact as a leader.”
As institutions of higher education continue to wake up to the realities of social media, there will no doubt be more flash-points in the fight for free speech.
Melissa Davidson is a freelance writer and social media marketer in Idaho. She has a degree in Journalism from the University of Montana.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
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