r/technology • u/thinkB4WeSpeak • Sep 11 '26

Society Dating Apps Are Dying

https://time.com/article/2026/09/09/dating-apps-are-dying/
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u/awezumsaws Sep 11 '26

I once read that according to mental health experts, the #1 associated predictor of depression in adult men was a positive answer to the question "Do you use online dating?" The way the algorithm and game play out is crushing to men.

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u/mythrilcrafter Sep 11 '26

The crazy thing to me is that I have had legitimately better success in the friggin job market than I have in the "dating game".

I just checked my email/application records and out of about total 300 applications (most of which were me looking for my first job after I finished university back in Dec 2019, and some of which others being the jobs I applied to to get out of that job in 2022), I have ever gotten about 10 interviews, 2 of which resulted in offers).

I know for damn well sure that I've swiped well over 1000, maybe multiple thousands of profiles on the various apps, with only one occurrence of a date actually taking place.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '26

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u/ShouldersofGiants100 Sep 11 '26 edited Sep 11 '26

These apps take far longer to make women's accounts inactive than they do men's.

I used several of them (including Bumble, Tinder and pre-Match OKC) for a while in university, so I sometimes saw women I knew in person. One of them kept showing up months after she started dating someone whom I am pretty sure she is now married to.

I wouldn't be shocked if by this point the vast majority of profiles (excluding bots) that are kicked around are just the undeleted ones of women who stopped using the app ages ago but never officially deleted things.