This stood out to me in the guardian today in an article about people sueing match.com for building addiction inducing features into dating apps.
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Although dating apps in theory open up a wider pool of prospective partners, in practice they “reproduce privilege”, MacKinnon added, by entrenching idealised preferences for certain ethnicities, age groups and body types. This is exemplified by Match.com’s uses of the Elo algorithm, which was originally developed to rank players in competitive games, she said."
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Honestly when I was on them, it kind of felt a bit like a game in the end - swipe left, swipe left, swipe right, swipe left...
I do think it stops you viewing people as "real" if you don't take breaks from it.
MrsAbz |
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Hmm. Is that addiction, or is it something else?
I think it's more about machines perpetuating the biases of the people who write them. So in this case, if algorithms are written by people who think that purple hair makes you part of the elite, the algorithm will reflect that and make purple hair more desirable in results. (Obviously I'm choosing purple hair to involve all the ugliness around... actual issues  ) |
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I’ve given all sorts of apps a good go but ended up on just two that felt like the rights ones for me.
As someone who doesn’t want to date anyone I meet through work, and whose friends are all married with kids, I don’t meet people ‘organically’. So they actually work for me - I like the fact I get a few pics and a short bio because it helps me judge whether we may be suited on first impressions.
I haven’t found them addictive though. Maybe it speaks more of someone’s desire to find a partner, that need to keep swiping. I’ve always felt able to take a break for a few days.
They’re a business like any other. There are always paid upgrades and that’s up to the customer to manage their own affairs. You can’t go suing Sainsbury’s because you get fat. My spare tyre is my fault hahaha |
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