How Apps Have Ruined The Dating Game

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Call me cynical, but I believe that dating apps have ruined the art of dating someone.

When dating apps popped up the idea behind them was to help people find what they were looking for by filtering out what they didn’t want.

If you are someone just looking to hookup, there’s an app for that. Want to meet someone who practices the same religious beliefs as you? There’s an app for that.

Apps were meant to help people narrow down the search and not feel guilty about being picky. They either had pages of questionnaires, or a simple two-step process to create a slightly vague profile.

Now, apps have become so narrowed down that it’s too easy to just keep shopping for the perfect person.

Hear me out because I know there are happily married couples out there who are success stories of dating apps and they want to scream “It works!” at me.

The truth is only 5 percent of married couples or those in a committed relationship met online, according to the Pew Research Center. The vast majority of Americans, 88 percent to be exact, met their significant other offline.

I can’t help but think that the reason why more people aren’t online success stories is because dating through an app makes it too easy to just move on to the next person.

Tinder is a great example of how easy this practice is. Don’t like his haircut? Swipe left. Don’t like the sarcastic About Me bio even though he probably thought it was charming? Swipe left, again.

We make permanent decisions based off our opinion of a picture, and we skip the crucial step of getting to know someone so we can make a decision based off of who they are as a person.

Maybe you already found your soulmate but you’ll never meet him because you discarded his picture.

It’s no surprise to me that few success stories start with online dating. It’s ruined the dating experience because it’s been turned into speed shopping.

The lack of authenticity just pours out of dating apps because it’s easy to manipulate profiles and pictures to fit whatever apps you’re on. Where’s the honesty?

I know there are people out there who are dating app advocates because it helps them meet new people, and that’s great. Be social, meet new people and have fun.

But maybe be willing to treat the experience as if you met them the old fashioned way, face to face.