Online services that promise to find people romantic matches have been likened to gambling products designed to keep customers hooked “Designed to be deleted” is the tagline of one of the UK’s most popular dating apps. Hinge promises that it is “the dating app for people who want to get off dating apps” – the place to find lasting love. But critics say modern dating is in crisis. They claim that dating apps, which have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times worldwide, are “exploitative” and are designed not to be deleted but to be addictive, to retain users in order to create revenue. Continue reading...

As research shows many have a poor online dating experience, those who have deleted the apps discuss pitfalls The rise of dating apps in the last decade has changed the way people forge relationships, with Pew research conducted in 2022 finding that 53% of US adults under 30 have used online dating. Despite their rise in use, however, dating apps have caused dissatisfaction and despair among many users, as Pew found 46% of all users (and 51% of women) had a negative experience of online dating. Continue reading...