Can online dating burnout be stopped?
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Scrolling, chatting, meeting, ghosting: online dating can be a depressing grind that leaves many singles feeling burnt out.
Andy Hong feels like he keeps meeting the same woman online: a graduate from a small school in New England who likes to ski and play sports. The twenty-eight-year-old says he has nothing against this kind of woman, but he's not necessarily clicking with them, and knows there are all kinds of people out there with whom he could enjoy a romantic relationship.
The repetition is wearing on him, but still the dating app Hinge keeps recommending people from the same mould. “They cater to a type, and they will feed you a type,” Boston-based Hong says of Hinge.
The experience has left Hong with what he calls “decision fatigue” – something others refer to as “dating app burnout”. It’s a prevalent phenomenon in the app-based dating world. People grow tired of the endless scroll of potential dates available on the apps. Many users become frustrated with the time they spend swiping online, compared to the time they spend actually going on dates.
“From a pure numbers perspective, of a hypothetical 10 people you match with, you'll probably have a solid conversation with seven or eight,” says Hong. “Of those seven to eight, you might net out at like one or two [in-person dates].”
Author Jessica Klein
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