Ilana Dunn has no intention of becoming a dating coach. Like many of us, she has gone through years of trials and tribulations in relationships and has relied on dating apps to help find her own people.
Dunn, now See others The podcast, along with nearly 50,000 subscribed listeners, has worked in the music industry for several years, creating behind-the-scenes content for artists and bands. But her dating life was “a total trash can fire.” wealth.
“I have this model, and I can’t just break the emotionally unavailable men who work in the music industry,” Dunn said. “So, after I knew who I felt like I had hit rock music and I couldn’t listen to music. I needed to (ed) leave the industry because (that’s) a lot of pain to me.”
As a result, Dunn left the music industry and took the lead in content at Hinge in 2018.
“When this opportunity comes up, I’m like, ‘Wow, a cool way to use all the pain and heartbreak I’ve experienced to even help a person,” she said. “It’s going to make it all worth it.”
Shortly after Dunn joined Hinge, the popularity of dating apps began to peak. The hinge is made from Competition Group In 2019, it gave it some juice, and Covid-19 ushered in a pandemic-era dating boom. Dunn even matched her husband on a dating app, although she said their connection was formed in person with a glass of wine.
Dunn barely knew a few years later that the dating app would be in New dating expectations and emotions From the younger generation.
Forbes Found in 2024 More than 75% Gen Gen of Zers is exhausted using dating apps like hinges, Tinder and Bumble because despite how much time they spend on the app, they don’t seem to find a real connection to someone. and The financial performance of the competition group This illustrates these changing attitudes: Its first-quarter profit was $117.6 million, compared to $123.2 million in 2024, while the use of paid fell 5% from last year to 14.2 million users.
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Even matched the team CEO Spencer Rascoff Acknowledged in a letter Posted LinkedIn Today’s dating app feels like a digital game, “we prioritize the wrong impressions of metrics over the experience people.”
This has led to several major dating app brands, including Hinge, Bumble and Tinder, to bring new features and products to their lineup. One example is a feature that allows Tinder users to pair with friends to encourage double dates.
“That’s how Gen Z wants to connect,” Rascoff said. “They want to cheer themselves up by meeting people.”
Why Dating Apps Don’t Make Their Hopes Come Back
Although Dunn said she was happy that dating apps were trying to grow (because they needed to do that,” she said she didn’t think they could have anything to save the dating app industry completely.
“They can try to come up with more ways to (allow) people to evaluate chemistry, but unless they are really pushing people to meet in real life, thus assessing by potentially creating more in-person activations and events that people can evaluate ‘Oh, ‘Oh, is there an atmosphere here?’ I didn’t know they would make a comeback and become as big as before. ”
Zers and millennials have become increasingly interested in “gathering” or meeting romantic partners in real life rather than in dating apps.
“I don’t want to just chat online,” Louise Mason, a millennial marketing expert in Doncaster, UK, told previously wealth. “I don’t want penpal.”
This has led to more people starting to host real-life parties, such as Gen Z communications professional Max Gomez, who hosts a “Champagne and Shack Pies” party where they match the party members. They posted flyers nearby and invited a group of strangers to have some “real-time” showdown. wealth.
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It’s also Dunn Recent hosting Masterclass with 156-year-old wine brands Louis Jadot House. This idea was inspired by encountering other important classic concepts: in a bar, sharing wine.
“If you’re just sitting on the couch and thinking, ‘Wow, these apps don’t work for me, no one hit my door trying to meet me. I’m going to be single forever, ‘You don’t necessarily put yourself in the best position.”
She said she predicts that now that the mood about dating apps is changing, we will start to see more in-person masterclasses, singles events and other opportunities to meet with romantic partners. Still, Dunn says the fact dating app is working hard to develop the show. Hinge reduces the number of matches users can chat with at one time, which forces users to make decisions and determine the match they are really interested in.
“I do think (dating apps have a long way to go and can help curate healthy dating behaviors,” Dunn said. “But I also think there are so many people using them passively.”
Ilana Dunn’s date tips
Dunn spent about two years in the hinge and started her podcast See others In 2021, two episodes are produced per week by dating experts.
As a dating coach, she says she always encourages people to use dating apps, but not The only one application.
“It’s much easier for someone to hide behind a phone and think about the information they’re making,” Dunn said. “But it’s also possible to learn how to connect in real life and it may require practice. It may require figuring out what you can control, and then go to the bar you’re familiar with, order a glass of gidott, and have a conversation with someone.”
She also said it was about saying “yes” to things, such as inviting to drink with colleagues or seeing who shows up or random birthday parties.
“Set a small goal for yourself and convince yourself that you can do that and you’ll be very pleasantly surprised,” Dunn said.
Another tip for dating app users: Turn conversations into dates as soon as possible, Dunn said.
“Once you can decide, can you decide here? Are we interested in each other? Do we feel this chemistry?” Dunn said.
