The Dating App Plot Device
Dating apps face a conflict: lasting matches lose customers. The author observes men chase an idealized past woman while women seek a mythical perfect man—both unrealistic. Technology connects people, but love requires putting the device away and talking.
Background
The author, Ibrahim Diallo, is a software engineer and writer who often reflects on how technology shapes human behavior. This piece argues that dating apps face a fundamental business conflict: they profit when users stay single and keep paying, not when users find lasting love and leave. Diallo's key observation — that men seek a "woman who doesn't exist anymore" (an idealized traditional homemaker) while women seek a "man that never existed" (a flawless, hyper-competent provider-present father) — reframes swiping as a form of aspirational shopping rather than genuine matching. "Giga Chad" (satirized in the article's image) is internet slang for an impossibly masculine, stereotypically perfect male archetype. The article ultimately suggests that technology can connect people but cannot manufacture the relational work required to sustain real intimacy.