A year of experimenting β as a columnist and a person β has lead me to this one fundamental truth. Being trusted for advice of any kind is a massive privilege and I hope you have felt seen, heard, and supported here. This week I wanted to circle back on where we started: Dating apps. This spring, I accidentally subjected myself to a social experiment that led to a personal epiphany.
In the past, when I have dated, I have been somewhat monog-app-mous, sticking to one app β occasionally two β for my own sanity. I typically get a month membership for one, let it time out, delete, and then sign up for a membership with another.
Meet someone. Delete the apps. Break up. Reinstall them. But a few months ago, after taking a break from dating, I went AWOL and downloaded all four apps at once. The faces were so good one would think Fable had seen every episode of the original show. But it occurred to me as I sat down to write about the four different dating app mes that emerged in that particular moment of chaos, that Fable had already illustrated them, exactly a year ago, when I first launched this column.
Charlotte would have loved Raya in her 20s, hated it in her 50s and used it anyway because there is absolutely no way she would download any other app. That is attractive to me. And whether or not I would have met the same people on any of the other apps, my last two serious relationships were with people I met on Raya. On Raya, I am I typically do not make the first move.
She would have also refused to use any other app. Which would have been her loss, because Harry would have definitely been on Feeld. Feeld is a dating app that centers sex β meaning, people do not post their real names but they do post their sexual acronyms.
