I think another thing that's going on is that while dating apps probably haven't reduced the number of people in relationships they probably *have* resulted in single-ness being distributed differently and this is making people a little weird
I think another thing that's going on is that while dating apps probably haven't reduced the number of people in relationships they probably *have* resulted in single-ness being distributed differently and this is making people a little weird
They have absolutely reduced the number of people in relationships
imo the main thing that makes dating apps so corrosive is that they make all the hypothetical rejections into real ones before Tinder you had no idea how many women weren't interested in you unless you actually hit on one and got shot down but now you know there's hundreds of women saying no
now of course a dating app "no" and a real life "no" are different things blah blah blah but i think that's the main thing driving everyone insane if nothing else the information age has taught us that "more information" is not always good for the brain
interestingly this is probably playing out in the opposite way a lot of incel types say, dating apps pretty clearly move the limiter away from "social confidence to approach people in public" and that just has to advantage socially awkward people on margin
the problem is that for normal looking people with reasonable expectations you could always do better and this in where the internet dating metagame is now, leads to total apathy
This was 100pct true during the days of early tinder though
now it’s just “oh wow this guy is way nerdier than I realized…” I need some normie hobbies
"I'm scared to talk to the girl at the bar" -> self-loathing over inaction "No responses on the Apps" -> loathing women or the taller guy
yeah