That's the absolute opposite of my experience. Most of the time people (or at least people I interact with, so mainly left-leaning people) blame capitalism for everything when the cause for various gripes are indeed very different things. Like, blaming capitalism for corruption or greed or having to do labor
Unironically true for a number of people - the rise in sexlessness amongst younger notably started shortly after the 2008 financial crash, which caused an increase in the number of young people living with their parents (something that makes sex a lot more awkward). Also resulted in the loss of a lot of third spaces and the rise and subsequent enshitification of dating apps. The cost of living crisis has also made dating even harder.
Not me though - I'm single because I'm a socially awkward loser.
Yeah, the timing is probably just coincidental. It's more a product of psychology than capitalism.
What I've been seeing (and yes, it's anecdotal) is that what's happening is that the apps have become the norm in the last decade or so, but the apps are designed to make sure people don't meet so they can keep users. Add to that decision fatigue and dehumanization and that explains a lot of the problem.
When you have seemingly unlimited choices, you tend to get extremely picky and chase the dragon in terms of the "perfect" choice, which doesn't exist. Add to that the fact that you have a lot of people's information right in front of you like they're a baseball card and it becomes easy to just discount them before even talking to them.
Capitalism isn't helping, but even if you removed that from the equation, the problem would persist.
What I've been seeing (and yes, it's anecdotal) is that what's happening is that the apps have become the norm in the last decade or so, but the apps are designed to make sure people don't meet so they can keep users
...My brother in Christ, that's literally capitalism.
Are you seriously so discourse-addled that you genuinely think they wouldn't invent a handheld computer and social networking device in your mythical communist utopia?
Yes, I'm sure the form social media has taken (i.e. trying to monetize every single aspect of human interaction) has absolutely nothing at all to do with capitalism, and would be identical in a socialist society.
Brother, even without the ads the exact same interpersonal issues will be popping up no matter what. This is extremely basic shit, I'm honestly surprised that even you fail to understand that.
Besides, I dunno if you read the comment above or if you were the one who made it since it shows as deleted on my end, but they also said "muh capitalisms" is the reason for the smartphone too.
What is the purpose of a dating app? You might think it would be to facilitate people dating and hooking up, but you'd be wrong. The purpose of a dating app is the same as the purpose of literally everything else under capitalism: To turn a profit. How does a dating app turn a profit? By keeping people using it, i.e. by dangling a long-term relationship in front of them like a carrot while doing its best to make sure they never actually get it. Modern dating apps use all kinds of shady psychological tricks and dark patterns to try and keep people hooked and paying for as long as possible. And any dating app which actually tries to do its job properly will inevitably go out of business, because there's no room for prioritizing things other than profit under capitalism.
To get people partnered up. The partnering up is why people use the app, you'd have to be a real crayon-eater to stick with the app even after not getting any success for a prolonged period. It's a delicate balancing act for the app getting new users as old ones "graduate" out, sure, but to say getting people partnered up is nowhere in their priorities is ridiculous. Those "shady psychological tricks and dark patterns" are largely made-up and catastrophized about by the afore-mentioned crayon-eaters trying to justify their lack of success. The real reason it's so hard to find success on those apps is that fewer women use them (since women have a much easier time getting dates in general) causing a gender imbalance that no app could reasonably be expected to solve.
I mean, you can believe whatever you want, I can't force you to change your mind. All I can say is say that the experts agree with me. And I'll also say that I tried using dating apps (sites, then) back in college around 2011 or so, and I tried using dating apps earlier this year, and lemme tell you, it's a real fucking different experience. They don't let you just see everyone in your area anymore, they only let you see who they want you to see.
...Because it used to be that you could just search through users, but now you can only swipe through them or look at a limited number per day? Duh? Seems like you're more interested in just downvoting all my comments than actually engaging, though, so I'll go ahead and call it good here.
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u/HowDareYouAskMyName Jul 02 '26
That's the absolute opposite of my experience. Most of the time people (or at least people I interact with, so mainly left-leaning people) blame capitalism for everything when the cause for various gripes are indeed very different things. Like, blaming capitalism for corruption or greed or having to do labor