There are numerous complaints about the state of dating in the age of dating apps.

The belief that they have led to an elevated level of superficiality in dating, opening people up to the idea that strictly judging someone over their looks is okay.

People swipe left totally based on how a person looks like, never giving that person a fair shake.

This superficiality has led people to believe that dating apps have made dating worse.

Not to mention what happens when people actually do meet in person.

A perfectly good date doesn’t always lead to a second.

People fall into the habit of getting back on a dating app after a perfectly good date, in search of a new and better match.

There was nothing wrong with the person they just met with in person.

But, they think they can do better, being that dating apps provide so many dating options.

This has led to an epidemic of first dates that never lead to second dates with people who meet on dating apps.

To make things worse, ghosting has become a lot more mainstream thanks to what happens on dating apps.

People meet on them, start a conversation, make preparations to meet in person and poof, someone disappears.

Just like that, a conversation that had been going on for a few days or weeks on the dating app evaporates after plans to meet up have been set.

Some people are even more brazen in how they ghost.

They just don’t show up at the date at all.

This behavior of ghosting has become more commonplace with the advent of dating apps.

There is such a dearth of decorum.

The anonymity of dating apps has made people lose any sense of etiquette.

The anonymity makes them not feel any sense of guilt or have any qualms with disappearing from a conversation they were having with someone on a dating app without warning or not showing up on a date that was planned.

It’s no wonder that lots of people believe that dating apps have made dating worse in society at large.

Bad habits that start online can easily seep into what people do in real life.

Someone who has gotten used to ghosting people they meet on dating apps, is going to be more likely to be okay with ghosting people they meet in real life venues who set up dates with them.

Once they get used to ghosting online, it isn’t that hard to do the same thing to people they meet and strike up conversations with at a club or bar.

Although these are all valid points, dating apps aren’t responsible for making dating worse in our society.

We are.

We are the ones who have chosen to behave this way.

Dating apps provide an avenue for us to meet people we would have never met in real life who have romantic potential.

Beyond that, it is left to us as human beings to use these online platforms with the best of intentions and with the best etiquette.

Human beings are prone to abusing a good thing to the point where we sometimes wonder whether we were better off without having introduced that good thing into our society.

Yes, there was a time when people weren’t as obsessed with superficial factors in who they were attracted to, nor were they so willing to ghost someone they just had a great date with, in hopes of getting back on a dating app and finding a better match.

That being said, dating apps were designed to make it easier for people to connect with each other without having to go to bars and nightclubs.

Us human beings have abused that privilege.

Dating apps haven’t made dating worse.

Human beings have.