Are Ubers the new Tinder?

When uber and ola began their sharing rides, little did they know that they were creating a meeting ground for the single, the lonely, the business hungry, and the plain old extroverts. Little did they think that their supposed car pooling system would soon turn into a speed (literally) dating set up between strangers who may never even meet again, which in an ideal speed dating world is the perfect way to go about it.

So how did I think of this? I won't lie to you. I've never been in an uber pool or an ola share or any of the other sharing cabs that have joined the bandwagon.
And Disclaimer: Uber/Ola have not paid me to talk about them.

A friend of mine who is a frequent traveller by Ola came across this rad driver one day. Who played music similar to her taste and then went on to play her favourite songs. She, for one, was shocked at his taste in music and then overwhelmed that he could hum the same songs that she would otherwise have played on her earphones. She texted me that instant out of disbelief. The very next day, she spoke to a passenger in her Ola cab and their conversations led them to exchange numbers and soon had them chatting over WhatsApp.

It's an easy game for the extroverts. They're not shy, they're welcoming, they're happier in conversation than in quiet rides home. But let's take, for example, another friend of mine. Who takes an Uber share home 4 times a week. A drive of 20-30 minutes generally means that much time for her co-passenger to initiate conversation.

Now, an introvert is often thrust with anxiety, over conversations she does not want to engage in, and here comes mister 'I like this song, have you heard it before?' while an old Coldplay number hits the station on the Ubers system. Reluctantly, she shakes her head and looks out the window, not necessarily meaning to be mean but quite promptly indicating she does not want to converse. But that doesn't stop mister 'hello' from trying his best to take this conversation forward and soon my friend is texting me to try and seem busy so she does not have to engage in social interaction.

And this is exactly what got me thinking. This wasn't the first time someone in her cab tried to make a connection. And I use the term connection because she's been offered business cards from passengers too. And days that she can breathe easy are the ones where she knows there's an introvert sitting beside her.

Yet another friend narrated her experiences to me after I asked her if she had any conversations with co-passengers.

She too is one to plug in her earphones but is definitely more likely to engage in a conversation than the friend I metioned earlier. She said she made her first commute-buddy on an Uber pool ride. They happened to be alloted the same cab every day as their destinations and routes were the same. Soon, they both started booking private Ubers instead of pool just so that they always got the same cab home.

Another time a passenger began asking her where she worked and what was her job like. This conversation ended with an exchange of Snapchat IDs and warm smiles. Today they check each other's stories but never really engage in conversation. Sounds like a lot of tinder matches too.

Yet another ride had an old man engaging in a jolly conversation about his 'zamaana' and ended with some blessings for great success ahead.

My friend does think that it's unnecessary conversation. After a long day at work, all you wanna do it get home quick and listen to music on your way there. However, she's a little more patient with strangers and even happened to help a first-time Uber pool rider.

Oh but the number of times they've tried to find a common ground! I'm not paranoid. I'm the kind who would generally engage in this conversation. But I trust my friend when she says there have been remarks that have sometimes crossed the line of 'co-passenger' and that really got me questioning if Uber is the next tinder.

So you can see, there's a lot of mix matching out there and while you keep swiping right on tinder, some lucky person just booked the same cab as his soulmate.

Think about it, Uber/Ola are probably sitting on the next big dating app and they don't even realise it. 

My relationship with technology

I share a very deep relationship with technology. With my smartphone especially. From the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, it stays on me or with me at all times.

I'm not exaggerating, it may be a stone's throw away from me sometime during the day when it needs it's own time to recharge but it's always in my line of view and rarely ever out of my sight.
I sit at my laptop for 8/24 hours of my day and then at my desktop or maybe my kindle for another few hours.

Often my 8 very important hours of sleep are cut short by a TV series or a Netflix show that I have to binge watch that very day so I can chat about it with my friends and not be left behind.

I probably open Instagram 30 times a day, Facebook 15 times a day and other apps a couple of times in a span of 24 hours. I'm listening to my music on my commute to and fro work on my Walkman or my phone, whichever sounds better for the day.

Courtesy: Pinterest

My smartwatch counts my steps and tells me the time even though my phone can do the exact same thing.

I spend a lot of my time watching people's stories on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp and sometimes I put in a lot of effort to ensure my stories are as interactive, engaging and funny as theirs.

If I'm lucky, my story makes it to various location stories on Instagram too.

Sometimes my posts get featured, I win contests, my photography skills are appreciated, I get shout-outs , loads of likes and even comments. My friends tag me in memes and we laugh about them together in comments. You probably share the same kind of day too.

Now. Take a moment and imagine yourself without your apps, your phone, your Walkman, your Kindle, your laptop, your cameras, your earphones and mostly a WiFi connection.


If you had to spend a day without all of this... 
What do you think you'd be doing?
Would you be able to go a day? or even a couple of hours?
Would you start practising a hobby or maybe restart an old one?
Would you start learning music instead of just listening to it?
Would you get some rest since it's been a while since you had a good nap?
Would you walk into a theatre and choose a movie to watch on the spot?


This portion of my article was not to disregard the use of technology in your life. I am of the opinion that while technology has made our life easier, it has also taken half of our lives away.

We're watching our friends excel on their stories instead of working on excelling ourselves. All this at the cost of our own self-esteem.

Memes are suddenly the easiest way to say what you feel without really telling anyone you're feeling it and still get it out there. So basically we can share our insecurities and our pain without really talking about it, by just laughing about it and that's quite a pity.

Information is reaching us quicker, but how much of this information is really relevant?

Would you believe me if I told you the internet has more information about you than your own government and half of it is derived and not even taken from you by consent?  Do you realize that your buying behaviour is actually studied and then used to tempt you into more buying?

Do you realize that there is no such thing as personal space anymore considering that your phone is in it all the time? Which means that every single app developer, news anchor, journalist, advertiser, restaurant owner, brand owner, and the millions of those who work under them all sit in the palm of your hand when you hold your phone. And I won't even begin to tell you how much of money goes into the research industry and the ad industry to move in closer into your personal space to engage with you, to understand you to impress you, to sell to you.

Courtesy: Pinterest

Don't think me paranoid. This is a wake-up call, to undo a certain addiction. A certain something that cannot be stopped as technology only advances. Take stock of your day. How productive are you with the help of technology. Are you dumbing your self down because of how smart your phone is? Do you practice a skill or a hobby that does not require technology to assist you?

It doesn't make you any less of a person if you are independent of your phone to complete a certain task. Like calculations for instance or booking a cab or meeting someone in person.

The biggest tragedy of being able to connect with each other over chats and video calls is that we almost never meet in person anymore, we never laugh in person or even share a hug in person, we have emoji's to do all of that for us now.

Think about it, the world is changing, and so are you. How do you feel in comparison to what you felt about yourself a few years ago? Has something changed in the way you think in the way you perceive yourself in the way you aspire or dream or if you work towards these dreams at all?

Courtesy:Pinterest