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Can a new dating app stop ‘ghosting’?

  • From Spectator Life
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Modern dating is a mess: it’s a shallow world of filters, FaceTune and superficial swiping. Across the internet, Gen Z complain that daters flake, catfish, scam, and – most objectionably of all – ghost.

A new dating app, Snack, proposes a solution. Snack is described as ‘Tinder meets TikTok’: a place where Gen Zs can film themselves flirting, create content with fun video prompts, and enjoy a ‘more authentic video-first dating experience’.

Snack also enables its users to punish those who ‘ghost’ them by leaving them negative reviews. ‘Ghosting’ is rejection without the closure – you’re talking to someone and, suddenly, they stop responding and disappear. Ghost enough times on Snack and you will be ‘de-prioritised’ by the platform – in other words, made invisible to other users. According to Snack, this is a way to ‘bring some basic manners and decency to the dating app game’.

Can we really expect to imbue the frivolity of casual dating with the courtesy of a committed relationship?

Few would dispute the need for more decency in modern dating.

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