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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Elle Hunt

We’ve ‘gamified’ dating – and I am part of that problem. But there are ways to make it human and fun again

Apps ‘need to prioritise play, opportunities for collaboration and ways for people to connect and get to know each other online’
Apps ‘need to prioritise play, opportunities for collaboration and ways for people to connect and get to know each other online’. Photograph: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

You wouldn’t know it now, from my thousand-yard stare, but there was once a time – not even that long ago – when dating apps were pretty exciting, and even fun. In 2012, I was 21 and living in a small city; Tinder was a welcome breath of fresh air into that claustrophobic scene, offering a way into social circles adjacent to our own.

With time, the pitfalls and risks of the technology became apparent. But, in the beginning, there was optimism that dating apps not only worked as they claimed to, but could make our lives better

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