A woman is debating whether she should go on a date with a Hinge match after discovering he may’ve lied about his age. Lexee (@lexeetraas) uploaded a viral TikTok delineating her concern, which has accrued over 64,000 views.
In the clip, Lexee films herself speaking inside a vehicle with a grey interior.
“You guys I’m so irritated,” she starts. “There’s this guy, OK? We’re chatting on Hinge, little bit of back and forth. He has listed in there, of course, his name, where he went to college, where he’s from, and his age.”
With an intrinsic penchant for investigation, Lexee searched the man’s name via a ubiquitous internet search engine.
“So because I’m a female, which therefore makes me a detective, I Google search him,” she says. “Cause of course I do. Mind you we have plans for a date this coming weekend. So I’m just doing my due diligence, OK? And it’s on some website, I don’t even remember the name of it.”
Lexee says she was able to confirm the man’s identity and phone number via the online search. But the search also turned up some conflicting information.
“But it shows like his full name, date of birth, phone number. Which we exchanged, so I know that’s his phone number,” she says. “So here’s the thing. His profile says he’s 38. Google says he’s 40. I don’t care if he’s 40. What I care about is that he’s lying about his age, apparently.”
Lying about his age on Hinge?
The Google search results indicated that the man was two years older than his Hinge profile displayed. “And for what, and for what, and for what?” She says repeatedly with her face turned to the side, approaching the lens more closely with each utterance.
Lexee states that saying the age discrepancy makes her want to ditch going on a date with the man altogether. “And for why? Like can someone explain this to me? Because now I’m just like, I’m ready to cancel the date, right? That’s what I should do, right?” she aks.
She explains her reasoning for feeling trepidation about going on the date with the man. According to her, one lie begets another. So if the man isn’t telling the truth from the jump about his age, it demonstrates a capacity for deceit.
Lexee believes that this ultimately sets a precedent for dishonesty.
“Because if you’re lying about that, you’re probably also lying about being a serial killer, no? If you’re lying about something like that, you’re lying about a lot of things, right?” she says.
At this point in the video, she does temper her distrust of the man, however. “Or am I just being extremely wounded, broken and I’m overreacting? Help,” Lexee begs her viewers.
Lexee then second-guesses her instinct to cancel.
“He was so cute, too, he looks so wholesome. I thought to myself, he couldn’t do this,” she says. “Why do I keep thinking that? Yes, they all do. They all do this shady [expletive]. Is this an overreaction, or is this weird? What’s going on here? You know?”
The issue with online dating
Other people who replied to Lexee’s video shared their own online dating woes.
One woman said that a lot of men are using pictures in their profiles that aren’t recent. “Newly divorced and WHY are these men using pictures from 10 YEARS ago?!” they wrote.
Someone shared what could be in store for Lexee. According to this TikToker, they dated someone who said they were 40 years old. However, after getting to know each other, she learned that he was actually 44. Although, as time progressed, the woman would go on to discover that this age was inaccurate as well. As it happens, the man was 50 years old and had a daughter.
She wasn’t made privy to the existence of the man’s child because he worked assiduously to ensure this was the case. “I matched with one who said he was 40 (I was 44 at the time). We date for a while. I find out he’s actually 50 and has a grown adult daughter in addition to his two young sons. He literally would take down all her pictures when I’d come over!” she said.
However, someone else thinks that Lexee’s man may’ve just not updated his correct age on the dating application. “Maybe he’s been on the app for 2 years and hasn’t updated his age,” one said.
Another person stated that the site incorrectly put his age down. “I’d just ask him! Sometimes those online lookup tools aren’t right,” they wrote.
Someone else wrote that there may’ve been another reason someone would lie about their age. “To beat the algorithm because they think people filter age at 40,” they suggested.
How common is lying about ages on dating apps?
Healthy Framework published a piece on deception in the world of internet romance. Out of 1,000 adults who used online dating apps interviewed by the site, 55% of those between the ages of 18 to 54 fessed up to fibbing about their ages.
And when it comes to the surveyed men, 60.8% of them said they had lied about their ages. Within the 35-44 year old segment, the outlet wrote that 33% of men actively lied about their age. Conversely, 48.6% of total women admitted to giving an incorrect age online.
One in eight women also said they didn’t share their correct weight online, while a fifth of men lied about their height.
@lexeetraas what are our thoughts on this? #dating ♬ original sound – Lexee
Men lying about their ages
And when it comes to men keying in inaccurate birthdays, Relationship Explained broke down several reasons why some do so. Some men, the outlet writes, engage in this practice to “attract younger women.”
Other factors include being insecure about how old they are, or a “pressure to compete” with younger men. This contributes to a “fear of rejection” and judgments made against them because of how old they may be. It could be that they want to broaden their dating pool to include people younger than themselves.
By putting in that they’re younger, they could be hoping that someone will get to know them based on their personality. Rather than their age. The article also mentioned that some heterosexual males on dating sites will also use older, more flattering photos.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Hinge and Lexee via email for further information.
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