

I think there are many valid criticisms of online dating, I would not suggest it’s an unalloyed good thing. However, I am old enough to have plenty of experience (trying to) date when online wasn’t an option (limited only to work, through friends, and through church since I was religious when I was younger) and I have to say, I prefer having the online option - or at least I did before I married my wife, who I met online.
Relying only on non-online spaces sucked for me. I just didn’t have the confidence to approach women and ask them out. I put myself in the friend zone all the time. When I first found online dating, I found it refreshing. It lowered that barrier for me and I think probably for a lot of other more socially awkward people.
There’s probably broader social problems when online becomes the dominant form, at least under capitalism.
Sometimes I get the feeling Zoomers think dating was “easier” before apps but I really don’t think that was the case, at least for me.














That headline is pretty awful, becaused “erased” is a term that can mean a lot of different things to humans. The actual content of the article is critical to understand:
Unspeakably evil. This regime has knowingly separated children from their parents and made it difficult if not nearly impossible for them to be reunited again. I don’t like saying “it’s hard to understand just how evil this is unless you are a parent”, because it’s not true. Of course people without kids can understand it. But as a parent, man, this one is really getting to me. To try and get a better life for my kids only to have them ripped away and never seen again… I can’t begin to describe what I would do in that situation.