I am a Tinder virgin. Up until a few days ago, I had never used the app. I had heard it was only for hookups, and that’s not my style. But, after my relationship ended, and with the encouragement from some friends, I took the plunge and downloaded the app, just for shits-and-giggles, of course.

I am not new to the online dating world - my ex and I originally met on OkCupid, another popular online dating site. After we broke up, I didn’t see myself moving on very quickly. I didn’t expect to, we had been together for years, after all. But my friend, who met her current boyfriend on Tinder, encouraged me to try it out. She told me she signed up a few weeks after she and her most recent ex broke up.

When I told her I wasn’t looking for a hook up, she laughed.

“Don’t buy into that stereotype,” She said. “Yeah there are some creeps on there who are only looking for sex, but there are also a lot of nice guys, too. Who knows? You may meet someone you really like. And nobody says you have to meet face to face, like, the day you get matched. I’ve heard of people taking months to do that. And even when you do meet face to face, you don’t have to date. You can hang out as friends. You can take things as slowly as you want.”

So, I asked her if I promised to sign up, if she would stop talking about it. She agreed, and I downloaded the infamous app on my iPhone.

I’ve only been using it for a few days, but I have found myself pleasantly surprised. While there are some creeps on there looking for sex, I have to give credit where credit is due, a lot of them actually put in their profiles that they’re just here for hookups. I appreciate that because it means I don’t have to waste my time and immediately swipe left. However, like my friend also said, there are actually a lot of men on there who at least say they aren’t there for hook ups.

To be fair, I am a straight woman, so I have my profile set up to only show me men. I have not seen the profiles of any women on the app, so there may be some of them who are just looking for sex, as well, and some who say they are not, just like the men of Tinder.

According to Elle magazine, the dating app giant is responsible for at least 1,000 engagements and countless relationships. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, more than one in five relationships begin online, through sites and apps like Tinder and 5 percent of Americans who are married or in a committed relationship met through an online venue.

Launched on Sept. 15, 2012 by creator Sean Rad of the New York City based Hatched Labs, the app has effectively turned dating into an addiction. The app boasts 10 million active daily users and 1.4 billion daily swipes. Unfortunately, because of it’s ease of use and it’s popularity, Tinder has been villainized as “the hookup app.” In fact, Refinery 29, an online magazine, lauds it as 1 of “7 awesome apps for hookups and one night stands.”

However there are many couples that might feel differently, because their story began when they both swiped right. Heather Conelly, 25, met her boyfriend Matt Stasin, 26, when they both swiped right on each others respective profiles last year.

“Honestly, I didn’t go into it expecting much,” Conelly said. “I had heard the horror stories, but I had also heard a few success stories so I just decided to give it a shot and see what happened.”

Stasin shared her sentiments. “I had just gotten out of a relationship and decided to sign up because I had nothing to lose. It was just kind of like ‘why not?’”

Stasin said he had joined about a month before and had been on a swipe left binge that day when he first came across Conelly’s picture. “I just remember thinking ‘wow, she’s beautiful’, so I swiped right. She had these big brown eyes and this smile that I couldn’t get out of my mind. I clicked on her profile and I loved that she was a college graduate, trying to make it on her own.”

Conelly said the first thing that drew her to Stasin’s profile was the fact that his profile picture showed him with his chocolate Labrador, named Coco. “I love animals, so if I’m completely honest that’s what drew me in first. But then I started looking through his profile more and I thought ‘oh he’s cute’. He had said he was in school and close to getting his bachelor’s degree. It’s important to me that whoever I’m dating is college educated. So, when I swiped right and it said we had been matched, I was really happy.”

“It started with me messaging her ‘hey’ and everything went from there,” Stasin said.

Conelly and Stasin have been together for nine months now.

According to Live Science, internet dating, commonly known as online dating, is just the latest version of matrimonial agencies which have been around for over 300 years. These agencies helped single men find wives through printed ads which usually ran in newspapers in their area. According to history lecturer at the University of Nottingham, H.G. Cocks, the social acceptance of such a way of finding a mate has waxed and waned since the agencies were first invented.

“Advertising for a husband or wife has always attracted criticism and the people who did it were always thought of as failures in some way. However advertising like this has a long and unbroken history, and was used by many people with some success,” Cocks said.

According to KFBK News Online Radio, the use of the current form of these age old agencies (aka sites like tinder, eharmony, okcupid, and match.com) are becoming less taboo than ever before, and a majority of Americans now believe that online dating is a good way to find a future significant other.

“I think it used to be taboo because, the media used to portray it as a way for sad single people to hook up with other sad single people,” Amanda Rooney, 23, and current member Tinder user said. “But now, because there are so many online dating sites and people are so busy in their every day lives, they don’t really have time to meet people like they used to. So, the media portrays it as hot and sexy, and if the media portrays it that way, then it is.”

Alex Cortez, 26, is a current user of many online dating apps. He says he has been using them off and on for years, and has noticed an influx of women willing to meet him in person within the last couple of years.

“I think another reason it’s become less taboo is because it’s become a little less dangerous,” Cortez said. “It’s sad, but for women, online dating is a lot more dangerous than for men. But now, with things like facebook, Instagram, FaceTiming, online background checks being easily accessed, and basically being able to find out any information you want about anybody you want by typing their name into google, it’s become a lot easier for people to verify who they’re meeting is who they say they are before they meet them in person.”

According to the Pew Research Center, about 40 percent of Millennials admit to researching their date online in some way before they meet face to face.

“It’s just safe that way,” Rooney said. “It’s smart. Going to meet a stranger is dangerous. First dates are dangerous, no matter how you meet the person. So, researching them a bit online can give you a feel for whether this person is who they say they are, and whether or not they’re dangerous.”

Rooney said she has at least google searched every person she’s been on a first date with since she turned 18.

Amanda Argota and her girlfriend Jessica Sanchez also met using the app. “I think our experience was probably a different one than what most heterosexuals, who use the app, experience,” Argota said. “Because I’m not sure if they separate heterosexuals from non heteros. Or if they do, I couldn’t find the setting. I was swiping right on all these girls and never getting matched because they were straight girls. Jess is the only person I was ever matched with, but that’s okay. She’s the only person I needed to be matched with.”

Sanchez, who also identifies as a lesbian, said she too had a hard time finding matches through the app.

“I was matched with a few girls, which is what I expected because let’s face it, this is an app designed for heteros, queers have similar apps designed for us. But I just figured, ‘what the hell?’ and signed up anyway. I’m so glad I did though because I probably never would’ve met Amanda otherwise.”

Kat and Jeffery Olsen have been married for two years after meeting during Tinder’s rudimentary days in 2012.

“It’s funny because Jeff and I went to the same high school, but he was a senior and I was a freshman so we never met. Then one day, years later, I signed up for Tinder and there he was,” Kat said.

“Of course, neither of us knew we had been in the same high school for a year,” Jeffrey said. “That didn’t come out until later.”

“It was weird at first, because I had never done the online dating thing before and the first time I met him face to face I was a little afraid I might be meeting an ax murderer,” Kat said. “But it quickly became like any other relationship I’ve ever been in except 100 times better. How we met had no bearing on that.”

“We were a little embarrassed to tell people how we met initially though, because even four years ago online dating carried a lot more of a stigma than it does today. But hey, we’ve been married for two years and have a beautiful baby girl. It obviously worked out for us, so we don’t feel any shame now in telling people how we met when they ask.”

However along with many happy relationships, with 1.4 billion daily swipes, and 9 billion matches since it was launched, the site is also responsible for a slew of hilariously awkward “tinder date” stories.

Gabrielle Rodriguez, 22, said she was matched with a guy who seemed ideal on Tinder about a year ago.

“I thought he was cute and he said he liked dogs, just like me, and according to his profile we had a lot of the same interests. So, I swiped right and we matched. We texted for about a week and had one Face Time session before meeting. Everything seemed to check out. So we agreed to meet at Starbucks at four that Saturday.”

Gabrielle said she was in no way prepared for what happened next.

“So, I get there and I’m waiting, and waiting…and waiting. He was 30 minutes late, and when he did get there he was dropped off by a woman who I can only assume was his mother. She pulled into a parking spot and waited for him. He walks in and we say ‘hi.’ He was wearing a ratty t-shirt filled with holes and jeans that looked like they’d never seen the inside of a washing machine. I should’ve just walked away then, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I didn’t.”

Rodriguez said she ended up paying for both of their drinks, which would’ve been fine in any other situation, except that they had discussed beforehand that he would pay. Both his credit and debit cards were declined. He said he had no

According to Rodriguez, after making small talk for a little while, he abruptly asked if I would like his mother to take him back to their place so they could Netflix and chill.

“Literally. It was that cliched. ‘Netflix and chill.’ At that point, I knew I had to run for the hills. So, I thanked him for his time and told him I knew it wasn’t going to work out and that I was going to leave. I’ve never seen or spoken to him again, thank God.”

Caleb Jordan, 22, said he had been using the site for about a month when he was matched with someone he thought was absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

Jordan said the woman was everything he likes as far as appearances go. After talking via the app for awhile, they decided to meet up.

“We decided meet at the mall, which I thought was a pretty safe place. She got there and she was beautiful - definitely the girl I saw in her profile pictures - but it was as if I had been conversing with someone completely different for the past two weeks. This girl seemed vain and superficial. When we first said ‘hi’ and I told her she looked beautiful, she actually said, ‘I know.’ Then, about a 10 minutes into walking around the mall, she asked me to buy her these very expensive designer shoes. I laughed, thinking she was kidding, but I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t.”

Jordan said what happened next was like something you’d see in a Seth Rogan movie. He said his 20 — something-year- old date threw a fit with kicking and screaming — the works. The kind you see toddlers throw.

“Honestly, I would’ve bought her the shoes if they had been like $50 or something but these shoes were like $1,000. So as she was kicking and screaming and clutching the designer shoes for dear life, I turned around and walked back to my car having never been so mortified.”

Perhaps taking the prize for the most awkward Tinder date is 27 - year - old Alex McKay. McKay compared his bizarre experience to something that would happen on the MTV television show Catfish.

“I was expecting to meet this girl I had been talking to on the app for awhile. She seemed nice and sweet, so I asked her to meet up with me. Her name on her profile was Taylor, and the pictures were clearly a woman with brown hair and dark eyes. So, when we met up, I was waiting for the girl in the pictures, when all of a sudden this huge dude walks up to me and says, ‘Hi, I’m Taylor.’”

McKay was so surprised he thought he may have been being filmed for a TV show.

“I really thought that’s what it might’ve been for a second. But that wasn’t what it was. The guy didn’t seem to understand why I was so surprised. So, I told him I was surprised because he wasn’t Taylor, and I’m not gay, so I was expecting a woman.”

McKay said Taylor laughed and said, “But I am Taylor. That is my name. I didn’t lie to you.”

When I told him he did lie because he was posing as a woman he said “Look man, this was just for fun. Just to see the shock on your face. I’m not gay or anything. I just get a kick out of doing things like this.”

Even I, only being days into using the app, have had my fair share of awkward exchanges with men on the site. Last night, one of my matches messaged me and said, “Wanna have sex?” Charming. I didn’t even dignify it with a response.

Another match told me to stop lying about wanting to take it slow, because he could tell I “wanted it.” I can only imagine what “it” is in his mind, but I immediately blocked him from my profile.

I still call myself a Tinder virgin because I have yet to meet anyone face to face from the app. I want to take things very slowly, and I figure if the guy is worth it, he’ll wait until I’m ready to meet him, whether that’s a week after we start talking or months down the line.

One of my matches, who shall remain nameless, summed up the Tinder experience pretty well. He said it is what you make it, which is true of anything in life. So if you go on Tinder just looking for casual sex, chances are, yes, you’ll find it. But if you go on looking for a bit more, well, you just may find that, too.