The joy of breaking up with dating apps
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dating apps have quickly become a fixture of modern dating. They do work for a lot of people – but many are also dissatisfied with the endless swiping and paywalled features. With the apps so ubiquitous, is it still possible to date offline? Or have dating apps made some people too scared of face-to-face rejection?
Brittany is joined by Manuela López-Restrepo, All Things Considered producer and writer, to get into her offline dating journey – and what she’s learned along the way.
(0:00) Are you fed up with dating apps? Us too!
(4:48) The dating app paradox: who makes money when you swipe...
(15:09) How dating apps change what rejection feels like
(23:05) A trip to a real life singles night (will Manuela find a date?)
Want more about modern dating? Check out these episodes:
The embarrassing truth of dating men
It's never too late to find a good relationship. Here's proof.
Your date gave you 'The Ick?' That might be a YOU problem.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On the latest episode of Sources and Methods, NPR's National Security podcast, the U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran. President Trump is calling for regime change telling Iranians, quote, when we are finished, take over your government. We break down the most important questions about what happens next. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. Listen now to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:24.4 | Would you say you've been scared away from the apps by weirdos in general? |
| 0:28.6 | A hundred percent. I feel like the type of person that I want to meet who has kind of the same approach and values is not going to be somebody that I meet on an app. |
| 0:37.1 | And if you've been on them over the course of a few years, it kind of feels like you're in |
| 0:42.3 | like a haunted old saloon and you see the same ghosts over and over again. |
| 0:46.4 | Like, oh, wow, you're still there in the same stool with the same drink. |
| 0:52.5 | Today I have a special guest here with me. |
| 0:55.7 | Manuela Lopez Restrepo, welcome to It's Been a Minute. |
| 0:58.4 | Hi, Brittany. |
| 0:59.9 | Manuela is actually a former It's Been a Minute intern, but she's now a producer and writer |
| 1:05.4 | for NPRs, All Things Considered. |
| 1:08.0 | Manuel, you're here because we're going to talk about my favorite topic, |
| 1:13.0 | dating. Well, I'm glad it's someone's favorite topic because every time I think about it, |
| 1:18.4 | I want to bonk myself on the head with a little clown hammer. I mean, I can understand that. |
| 1:23.6 | I know you've been off the apps for a while, though, now. I've mostly been clean from the apps for about a year now. |
| 1:30.0 | How has that been? I mean, it's hard. I think when you're going against the grain of something that has |
| 1:35.5 | become part of modern life so quickly and so ubiquitously, you kind of maybe feel like you're the one who's doing things wrong. All of my friends are still |
| 1:44.3 | on apps and going on dates. And meanwhile, I'm meeting maybe a few people per year. But also speaking |
| 1:50.6 | personally, I also don't know any of said friends who are on the apps and have good things to |
| 1:55.5 | say about it. So, you know, I would just kind of say that I'm not sure I know anybody who's happy |
| 2:00.2 | with the state of dating in general. |
| 2:02.4 | There's the rub. |
... |
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