The popular app Tinder utilizes a user's Facebook page to create a quick and easy-to-sum-up profile that then is available to other users within a pre-set geographical parameter. This is matchmaking in the digital age, and if it remotely sounds like an amalgam of voyeurism/espionage/digital stalking and smart-phone addiction, you wouldn't be too far off the mark. The fledgling company has had its criticisms and most recently a sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation lawsuit involving cofounders Whitney Wolfie, Sean Rad, and Justin Mateen. Heavy stuff for love promoters.
America's Backyard has resolved to make digital matchmaking a little less impersonal with Tinder Thursday. In tandem with its popular Thursday College Night activities, the bar encourages patrons to download the free app and "swipe right to all the cuties that conveniently surround you." Easy enough for the collegians who can't get their faces out of their screens long enough to notice people around them anyway. One good aspect of this is that if you show the staff you are a match, you'll receive a free condom -- a smart move and a comforting thought to have.
Find love on Thursday nights starting at 8 at America's Backyard, 100 SW Third Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-449-1025, or visit myamericasbackyard.com. Join the digital age and find a potential partner with some degree of responsibility.
Thu., Oct. 9, 2014