I’m skipping the explanation of why dating apps are bad for their users.
I think you have failed to understand why dating apps are bad for their users.
On my current models, the core problem isn’t the incentives, it’s the medium. A very large chunk of attraction for most women is about social behaviors, which just don’t come across in some pictures and a text blurb; they mostly come across in conversations and other social settings. The net result is that women mostly don’t find the guys on apps attractive, even when they’d find many of those same guys attractive if they socialized with them a bit. That, in turn, results in the notorious statistical problems of the apps, and the frustrating experience of most users.
I know lots of people mourn the loss of 2014-era okcupid, but I would guess the median experience on okcupid was qualitatively similar to today’s apps. I recall the okcupid data blog itself noting that mostly the pictures were the only thing which had significant predictive power for people matching up.
I think you have failed to understand why dating apps are bad for their users.
On my current models, the core problem isn’t the incentives, it’s the medium. A very large chunk of attraction for most women is about social behaviors, which just don’t come across in some pictures and a text blurb; they mostly come across in conversations and other social settings. The net result is that women mostly don’t find the guys on apps attractive, even when they’d find many of those same guys attractive if they socialized with them a bit. That, in turn, results in the notorious statistical problems of the apps, and the frustrating experience of most users.
I know lots of people mourn the loss of 2014-era okcupid, but I would guess the median experience on okcupid was qualitatively similar to today’s apps. I recall the okcupid data blog itself noting that mostly the pictures were the only thing which had significant predictive power for people matching up.