How does orientation affect the dating app experience?
"There is a specific type of alienation that comes with using an app that was not made with you or your community in mind, and most dating apps have initially been created with straight people in mind." It's a truth uncomfortably acknowledged that every dating app in possession of a database of potential daters must be primarily in want of straight people. The quote above is one of the many insights into the modern dating landscape covered by Mashable's own features editor Rachel Thompson, in her second book The Love Fix, out now via Square Peg, following her debut, Rough. And we've got an excerpt on this complex, undeniably prevalent topic for you below. SEE ALSO: Mashable's Rachel Thompson investigates sexual violence (and what we can do about it) in 'Rough' Now, full disclosure, I'm biased — that much is obvious. I've been lucky enough to edit and read Rachel's (it feels weird to call you Thompson, I won't do it) brilliant work for years, covering every angle, trend, and buzzword of sex, dating, and relationships in contemporary life — before the rest of us really know what's happening right in front of us. But The Love Fix is a deeper dive than ever into dating app fatigue, and a truly hopeful means to understand how we can reconnect with authenticity and intimacy in a world increasingly disengaged and automated. Rachel's thorough analysis of how orientation affects the app experience, how dating apps are not designed with queer people at the forefront, and that "our social scripts for dating are also designed for straight couples," is just one of the important threads she pulls. Featured Video For You 'I was cloaked.' What it's like to be blocked and stood up by your Hinge date. The Love Fix delves into questions of dating app culture and design, what "limerence" is and how to deal with it, the trickiness of DTR (defining the relationship), how to reframe rejection, why ghosting hurts, the increased use of therapy speak in dating, the online attention economy (
How does orientation affect the dating app experience?