Want to Improve your Writing? Join a Dating App!

Want to be a better writer? Join a dating app.

This isn’t some clickbait article, relax. It’s a genuine plea to those of you who are similar to me — introverts, shy, but who enjoy a good conversation and possibly want to become better writers — whether it’s your profession or not.

How being on dating apps help me write better

Back in my days when I started exploring dating apps, I found myself to be too shy to carry out a conversation.

It was always the “Hey”, “How are you?”, “How was your day?” conversations in the beginning.

These were boring and truth be told, very tiresome.

How many times can you answer this question in a day, anyway?

I tried most of the apps — Tinder, OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Bumble and maybe one or two more that I forgot about. I eventually found love outside of a dating app (yay social media!) but I am eternally grateful for the lessons that I learned.

Lessons on relationships and on writing

More so about having a conversation than writing, per se. But boy did it help.

My conversations went from, “Hi, thanks for matching” to something quirky that I would pick up from their profile. Sometimes I would even throw in a totally random question to break the ice.

It’s taught me to understand the audience before phrasing out my introductions.

And then it went to engaging with a person on a day to day basis. If I had something in common with someone, I would carry on talking to them, but asking them “How was your day?” every day was getting too boring. So I would ask things to learn more about them, send them recommendations, and talk about random topics.

This taught me to keep learning about my audience, tweaking, keeping up with times and keeping things fresh.

I also feel grateful to have come across witty individuals who uttered quick witty phrases that I caught onto. Some have even shared amazing book titles and movies that I have read/watched and learned even more things from.

It’s a fascinating world out there, really

If you’re single and have a bit of time to spare, learn how to write better by having conversations on dating apps. It’s a great way to meet many people, but know your boundaries and don’t catfish anyone, please. Let’s make it a safe environment for everybody to learn from each other, and maybe possibly, find love.

Have you learned anything from your dating app experiences? Do share.

www.manishadhalani.com

Originally published on Medium.