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Online expectations blight the course of true love

The Observer

|

July 13, 2025

One strike and you're out? No wonder young people are suffering dating app burnout, says Sarah Manavis

- Sarah Manavis

What should women expect from men in 2025? How does a healthy heterosexual relationship begin? Last week on X, we caught a glimpse of how one doesn’t when a dating app exchange about a first date went viral.

After arranging a time and place, and texting “Perfect! I'll meet you there” beforehand, the woman abruptly cancelled when the man announced he was running five minutes late. “Oh no you needed to confirm this morning!” she said. “I thought it wasn’t happening.” When he apologised for not following up, she replied: “This was silly of you and I am a gal who deserves the basic decency of you reaching out to let me know we're still on ahead of time... You should be so excited the morning of our date you can’t wait to reach out to me and let me know you're looking forward to it, but that’s the bare minimum... I deserve to find what I'm looking for.”

It’s understandable to have different ideas about how many times someone should confirm a date. But what is it exactly that we “deserve” from dating?

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