Swiped out (B1/B2)

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Warmer

1. How did your parents meet? Your grandparents? How do most couples you know under 35 meet?

2. Guess: what percentage of new couples in rich countries now meet online? a. 20% b. 40% c. over 60%

3. Is meeting online still slightly embarrassing in your country, or completely normal? Was it always?

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Dating words

Match the dating expressions with the meanings:

1. to hit it off

2. to ghost someone

3. to lead someone on

4. to settle down

5. out of my league

6. a red flag

a. to disappear without explanation

b. too attractive or successful for me

c. to like each other immediately

d. a warning sign about a person

e. to give false romantic hope deliberately

f. to begin a stable, committed life

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Which three of these existed before the internet — and which did the apps make necessary?

Read the article. Then answer: why did Nadia delete the apps — and what is the app company's defence?

The great swipe fatigue

Nadia, 31, calculates that she has swiped roughly 40,000 times in nine years. The result: two relationships, "maybe two hundred" conversations that died within a day, and a repetitive strain injury in her right thumb that her physiotherapist described, without smiling, as "occupational."

Last spring she deleted every app and joined a running club. "The apps turn people into a menu," she says. "I was rejecting men in half a second for crimes like: wrong sunglasses. You would never do that to a human standing in front of you."

She is not alone. Downloads of the biggest dating apps have fallen for three consecutive years, while "offline" singles events report waiting lists. One organiser is blunt: "Our best marketing is app burnout."

The apps see it differently. "We gave shy people, busy people, gay people in small towns, a door to knock on. Nobody who found their partner on our app calls it the death of romance."

Nadia concedes the point — her sister met her husband online. "The apps work. That's the strange thing. They work, and they make everyone miserable while they do."

Comprehension

discussion

Mark these sentences true (T) or false (F):

1. Nadia never had a relationship from the apps.

2. Dating app downloads are rising.

3. The spokesperson claims apps helped people with few local options.

4. Nadia thinks the apps don't work at all.

1. "Rejecting men in half a second for wrong sunglasses" — is that the app's fault, or human nature with better tools?

2. Can something "work and make everyone miserable"? What else in modern life fits that description?

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What would you say?

Your friend sends this message. Draft your honest reply — two sentences — then compare in groups:

date #3 with app guy tonight. he's kind, funny, good job, likes my dog. and I keep thinking... the app says there are 2,400 more matches within 5km. what if #2,113 is better?? is this what choice does to a brain. should I delete the app WHILE dating him or is that insane

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Now answer the underlying question seriously: does infinite choice make choosing impossible? Where else have you felt "match #2,113 syndrome" — jobs, cities, series to watch?

Where do you stand?

Mark each: agree / disagree / not sure — then defend:

1. Ghosting after one date is acceptable; after three, it's cowardice.

2. An old photo on a profile is a lie, not marketing.

3. Having AI write your opening messages is no worse than a friend helping.

4. Apps should charge per message — scarcity would restore manners.

5. The apps profit from your search, not your success; a happy couple is two lost customers.

6. Arranged introductions, matchmakers and family approval were also "menus" — just shorter ones. Romance was never free choice.

7. Meeting online is now the tradition; complaining about it is the new small talk.

Homework

Write your honest dating profile — the one nobody writes: three real flaws, one real virtue. Would it work better?

Nadia says apps "turn people into a menu." The spokesperson says the old menu was just shorter and crueller. Whose romance is more honest — the algorithm's, or your grandmother's village?

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