Fed Up With the Apps, Daters Turn to Old School Set Ups

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dating is going old school. More than a decade after apps like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble transformed dating, many singles are signing off and asking their friends, families and colleagues to set them up. It’s the kind of news that will make grandmothers everywhere rejoice. Being set up might seem quaint, but for most of modern dating, people met their spouses through friends and family. And with the popularity of shows like Netflix’s “Indian Matchmaking,” there is a rising interest in relying on personal interventions to find your person. We talk about getting set up and how to play matchmaker, and we hear from you: Did you find true love on a blind date or set up? Guests: Allie Volpe, correspondent, Vox. Volpe's most recent piece on dating is titled "Most Couples Used to Meet This Way. What Happened?" Frankie Bashan, clinical psychologist; founder, Little Gay Book, a matchmaking and relationship service based in Oakland Lauren Magboo, founder, The Used Date Party Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:14.9	Support for KQED Podcast comes from San Francisco International Airport.
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0:28.6	From KQED.
0:30.1	Music From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Grace Wan, in for Alexis Madrigal. Dating is going old school.
0:48.5	More than a decade after apps like Tinder, hinge, and Bumble transformed dating, many single
0:53.3	people are signing off and asking
0:54.9	friends, family, and colleagues to set them up. It's the kind of news that will make grandmothers
0:59.6	everywhere rejoice. Instead of swiping left or right, you can put your romantic life in the hands
1:05.0	of your best friend from camp. What could go wrong? We talked to one of the Bay Area's best
1:09.8	matchmakers and hear from you.
1:11.7	Have you sworn off dating apps and are now looking for a setup?
1:14.7	That's all coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Grace Juan, in for Alexis Matrigal.
1:36.1	Dating apps were supposed to help us find true love. With a swipe right, we would find a life partner, or at least someone to take to the company holiday party.
1:45.3	But frustration with dating apps is on the rise and more people are seeking in real life setups.
1:51.7	Singles are asking friends, colleagues, even their mothers and grandmothers to, in the words of
1:57.0	fiddler on the roof, find me a find, Catch Me a Catch. Here to talk about the move from
2:02.2	apps to old school setups, and maybe to offer a little advice, we're joined by Ali Volpe. She's a
2:07.9	correspondent for Vox, and her most recent piece on the subject is titled, Most Couples
	...

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