Very. They’re all swipe boxes at this point, and that basically means it’s a slot machine that dispenses people. It’s designed to be addicting, not actually locate a compatible partner.

No, I don’t really have a good alternative. Date-me docs are interesting, kind of a zine-y grassroots version of the app we wish we had, but they’re a small phenomenon and I don’t know how many people actually manage to meet through them. I heard something about fediverse dating, but that’s even more niche.