I Learned to Love Dating Apps, Even with Low Self-Esteem
Apps like Bumble and Tinder seemed cold and awkward, until I learned to see them as an opportunity
I remember what I wrote in my journal when I realized I’d missed my chance to ask her out.
You are an idiot, you are a coward, you are a fool.
The missive was scrawled in barely legible handwriting, my chest tight with inbound anger and pain. I’d come to the café each day for weeks, only to find myself incapable of asking the waitress I liked if she’d go for a drink with me. In the end, her colleague handed me a scribbled number, saying she’d left it for me. It was a lie, but the number was real. I dated the waitress for two years. God bless the colleague.
It seems halcyon and innocent now to have met someone in person instead of via the digital morass of online dating. I first tried dating apps in early 2016. Scarred by the loss of a relationship I’d dreamed would never be lost, I nudged myself toward the burgeoning digital romance scene with reluctance, cynicism, and not even the slightest hint of abject defeat.
