Let’s admit it; we, teenagers nowadays, tend to try our best to fit in, and we are always curious about the things that sound foreign to us. We’re still up for adventures and social interactions. When we step into the age of legality, that’s when everything starts to escalate for us. After the magical birthday occurs, we start to enter the doors and explore the sense of the beginning of adulthood. For some of us, the age of eighteen means we can already begin to vote, learn driving, and interact with a giant circle. It’s where the fun starts, and it’s where we begin to take the steering wheel for us to have a taste of control over our lives.
You’ll start to see a whole new experience ahead of you, and it’s always up to you on which path you’re going to take. There are many new things to try and a whole new set of people to meet‒ to some of us, dating might even be one of the unique experiences we might or are facing at this point. It might be the people at your college. To some of us, it doesn’t always work with familiar faces because not all of us are comfortable with the thought of dating one of the friends of our peers, or we’re not fond of dating that one guy from biology class‒ and of opening new choices for us, we can try dating online? Right?
Knowing the pros and cons of dating online, how will we find the right person for us? How are we going to approach it first? If you’re one of the first-timers and the people that are worrying about how and where they’ll find someone that can serve as a potential partner‒ keep reading because you’re on the right track. Most dating sites have pretty strict rules and age restrictions, so it may be harder for us to find suitable places geared towards teenagers, but we are here to share a few decent options with more robust features and a little less of a sketchy pool of candidates.
Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the sites are a hundred percent safe‒ you still have to be careful when trying, and you have to be strict with following the guidelines for safety and the site’s online precautions. It would be best if you didn’t go easy. Please don’t give your contacts and address to the people you match instantly; look for linked social media accounts to your matches to confirm that you’re not getting catfished, and review them thoroughly before agreeing upon meeting somewhere.
With that said, if you’re ready to give online dating a shot, buckle up because here are some of the lists that are teen-friendly for you to choose from.
Bumble
First, on the list, we have bumble dating. It’s available on both Android and iOS and even on your desktop browser. The age restriction for this is 18 and above. What’s good about bumble is that it has a user-friendly interface, making it easier for people to understand the mechanics and set-up. It’s one of the sites with a “swiping” method, meaning you can swipe left if you don’t like the pool choices, and you can swipe right if you want the options you are having. It’s easy to navigate, and it’s easy for you to review the people listed before you swipe on them.
There will be profiles, featured photos, and even questions for you to know a cent of their personality based on their answer‒ which means you can still know them even without their bios. Although there is a twist to this, usually there’s this unspoke rule wherein “women make the first move.” If you match with someone and don’t reach out to them in the first 24 hours‒ the matches will expire. If you aren’t a fan of making the first move, this may not be the one for you.
Coffee Meets Bagel
Like the first one, the age restriction is 18 and above, and it’s also available for both iOS and Android. If you’re looking for a relationship, they say this app is for you because it will curate a pool of matches that it thinks you will prefer every afternoon‒ which means it’s there’s no endless swiping for you. If you don’t know how to strike a conversation with your matches, fear not because CMB itself gives you a few icebreakers to get the spark started. A downfall in using CMB is that there may be a few unwanted characters to face‒ but CMB has an excellent report feature. If you feel uncomfortable, just let CMB know.
Taffy
The age limit for this one is 17 and above, and it’s available for iOS. One of the downsides we have when finding some matches is that we tend to judge someone based on their profile photo, which sometimes results in us throwing a potential soulmate who can genuinely take care of and love us. One fun thing about taffy is that everyone’s profile photo is blurry at first. By the time it gets clear, you already have an idea and a hold to your partner’s personality, which may lead to potential relationships. But taffy’s only been up recently, so there may not be a lot of users yet.
Happn
The age limit for Happn is still 18 and above, which is available for both Android and iOS still. Happn combines real life and dating online features because every time you cross paths with another user, it will appear on your timeline. For example, if you are a few meters or feet away, they can check your profile and vice versa. Meaning if someone for your college, the gym, or anywhere else is using Happn, you’ll be aware of it. But the creeps may be there too, hiding as a user, don’t fret, though, because you can adjust your age preference and restriction‒ keep an eye out for it for safety!
