The latest dating app has been unleashed upon the public. Over OK Cupid? Tired of Tinder? Glutted with Grindr? Get ready, because here comes Invisible Boyfriend/Invisible Girlfriend.
These new apps, currently testing in beta, are essentially exactly what their respective titles imply. Your Invisible Boyfriend/Girlfriend will do all of the things a real significant other might do: call, text, leave a voicemail and send you pictures. The one thing they won’t do is show up. Ever. These apps are designed to simulate an actual relationship with another person, which sounds more like an anti-dating app. But why argue semantics?
For a fee, users create an account, upload some selfies and create a custom partner. In addition to the benefits already mentioned, your virtual romance comes complete with a story of how you met, and photos of the two of you, thus further cementing the illusion in reality. As these apps are still in their testing stages, the level of interaction with your virtual romance is limited to contact via your smartphone. However, demand for the product has apparently been significant, and the company re-sponsible says that they are looking into augmenting the experience, according to their website.
“This may include gifts, personalized notes, flower deliveries, social media connections, and you name it. We get the sexting/naked pics question a lot, but there are currently no plans for offering these services at launch,” company owners wrote on the website.
A lot of you are probably wondering why anybody would want this at all, let alone be willing to pay for it. However, if the claims the company makes on its website are true, demand has been overwhelming. When considering whether or not I would enjoy this app, the prospect seems highly dubious.
But what about for someone in a different situation. Say you are a woman trying to build a career and you have decided that now is not the right time for you to start a family, (assuming you even want to start a family in the first place). Now let’s say you also have an overbearing relative whose eagerness for you to find someone exceeds your own. Bingo! Invisible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend! Now you can show that relative how blissful you two are, while concentrating on what really matters to you.
Many will deride potential users of this product, and lament the fact that technology has become a permanent part of the dating scene. Others will complain that if there isn’t anybody real on the other end, that it is pointless. But for many out there this could potentially fill some kind of void they have in their life. Romance is such a personal part of people’s lives, that it is impossible to say that something like this is entirely good or entirely bad. But to those who would complain that an app like this could further alienate someone who already has a tenuous hold on a social life, I disagree.
Perhaps this app could be a confidence builder. Perhaps you are someone who hasn’t been very lucky in love, and hasn’t had much practice. Here is a dating simulator that could possibly help you out in that department, without having anyone’s real feelings on the line. In an episode of the television show “Black Mirror”, a grieving widow has the pain from her husband’s death eased by communicating with an incredibly realistic doppelganger of him via her smartphone. Perhaps this app could be used in a similar capacity.
So before we are quick to condemn, perhaps we should first try to understand.