Tinder’s Latest Product Is Just…Weird

Tech companies often claim their products are helping bring people closer together, but Tinder’s newest release is fulfilling that promise quite literally. The company has introduced Tinder VR, a bizarre new feature that brings elements of virtual reality tech into the dating experience. OK, there’s a catch. The only part of VR that Tinder VR brings into the mix is the headset. Though there's a headset that resembles popular products like the Oculus, there’s not actually any technology integrated into Tinder VR. Instead, by sharing the headset, pairs of people experience something much more trippy than virtual reality: intimacy. When two people strap on the two-way headset, they are simply forced to look directly into each other’s eyes. One reporter from Engadget who tried on the product says he only lasted a few seconds before the experience became super uncomfortable. Tinder VR debuted this week at CES, the global consumer electronics and technology tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course, the product is just a PR joke, and it likely won’t hit shelves anytime soon. Nevertheless, its existence is thought-provoking. If nothing else, imagining the awkwardness of such forced intimacy might make having to swipe for hours just to land a date from someone who seems sane not seem so bad after all.