this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
213 points (98.2% liked)

Technology

81161 readers
4873 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
213
What dating apps are really optimizing. Hint: it isn’t love (theconversation.com)
submitted 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
34 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, dating apps typically see a spike in new users and activity. More profiles are created, more messages sent, more swipes logged.

Dating platforms market themselves as modern technological solutions to loneliness, right at your fingertips. And yet, for many people, the day meant to celebrate romantic connection feels lonelier than ever.

This, rather than a personal failure or the reality of modern romance, is the outcome of how dating apps are designed and of the economic logic that governs them.

These digital tools aren’t simply interfaces that facilitate connection. The ease and expansiveness of online dating have commodified social bonds, eroded meaningful interactions and created a type of dating throw-away culture, encouraging a sense of disposability and distorting decision-making.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 7 points 8 hours ago

any kind of dating app is self-detrimental for revenue

It doesn't have to be. In the US, about 4 million people turn 18 every year. Let's say you get all of them signed up and all of them optimally paired off. You still have another 4 million new signups next year. Until the world falls off a demographic cliff, you've got an evergreen customer population.

That being said, the well is VERY poisoned at this point. The match group is a cancer on our society.