Swipe Fatigue

Reading up on tech discourse on dating apps, and discovered Facebook has a dating app service. This was not an investigation I embarked on for my own dating purposes. It was rather a follow up to an article sent by a friend who is equally driven to critique and inspect the AI take over we’re all subjected to against our will. The article that really sent me sleuthing reports on a recently shipped AI enhancement for the app. Facebook Dating’s latest feature roll out seeks to address ‘swiping fatigue’ by eliminating swiping all together and relying solely on the discernment of its algorithm. Honestly, dating apps already feel like they’ve had years to perfect dating, yet remain missing the mark with facilitating connection. This feels like another misstep, but again, I shouldn’t assume the business goal is to actually help people find love.

Abstracting choice from the entire process makes me wonder how exactly these algorithms determine a person’s potential chemistry and compatibility. What is the criteria that gets extracted from our online presence on these apps? Do I need another reminder that people are losing touch with themselves and their desires as we further offload friction and inconvenience in this world to our technology?