Kiss and Tell: Analog Girl Summer

Logging off of dating apps and trying to date the old-fashioned way

I quit. Cold-turkey, full stop, I quit. I deleted all my dating apps; not just the platforms themselves, the profiles themselves. It’s too easy to just redownload the app, so I had to make it permanent.

Last week, we talked about the current dating app lawsuits and scandals. Users have BEEN feeling dissatisfied and unimpressed with all the platforms. But based on the dating landscape right now, a lot of people feel like dating apps are they’re best option. Whether it’s fitting dating into a busy work schedule or getting a chance to screen dates ahead of time, dating apps do offer benefits to users.

Like I said last week, relationships from dating apps ARE possible. One of my amazing friends Vanessa met her boyfriend Philip a few years ago on Bumble, and they are such a beautiful couple. They took a chance and have been all the better for it. 

I’ve been on dating apps since the fall of 2021. I started on Taimi because TikTok said it was specifically for queer people. But there weren’t too many users and it showed me people that were outside of my distance constraint, so it wasn’t really for me. I then moved to Her, a dating site specifically for queer women looking for queer women. They have a really nice built-in feature that will kick you off if you screen-shot other people’s profiles to give users privacy and keep anyone from being outed before they’re ready. It’s a nice platform, but when I used it, there weren’t a lot of users.

After that I jumped between Hinge, Tinder, and Bumble; the big three. They’re basically the infinity stones of online dating. They all have their upsides and downsides, but no matter what, I didn’t find what I was looking for. There were some good dates and some really really life-alteringly bad dates, but what platform it came from didn’t really make a difference. 

So this summer, I will be putting my money where my mouth is and going offline. We’re going to be talking about going from an empty roster to a packed schedule, and discussing the big questions: Where do I meet people? What do I wear on a first date? What things should I/should I not talk about on dates?

It’s hot girl summer, and we’re leaning into it. Speed dating, clubbing, meeting people in bars; you name it, we’re trying it together. So tag along and let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to try and report back on.

Photo from Pinterest

That’s all for now so keep it cute, stay safe, and I’ll see you next week.

XOXO, Gillian

Got dating problems? Email us at primadonna.kissandtell@gmail.com, and we might just answer you in our next column update!