Why is it so hard to get a date using a dating app these days?
When I was 28, circa 2015, dating apps were fun. Not as fun as having an actual relationship, obviously, but more fun than sitting at home alone on a Friday night. And really, you never had to do the latter – not if you didn’t want to. You could simply spend 10 minutes swiping on Tinder, make a handful of matches, send a couple of messages and boom: you’d secured yourself drinks for the weekend. No muss, no fuss.
You could even make a game of it if you were out with mates and so inclined, enlisting their help as you scrolled the never-ending catalogue of potential suitors to decide if it would be a thumbs up or thumbs down – like a Roman emperor assessing gladiatorial warriors and deciding whether their fate was to live or die.
It’s not as if the dates themselves were wall-to-wall wonderful – I’ll never forget the guy who put his hand on my knee three minutes in while staring deeply into my eyes and said: “I think we both know why we’re here.” But the point is, it wasn’t difficult admin) just to secure an in-person rendezvous – unlike in 2024.
