I admit I’ve ghosted men and failed to reply to them. The apps need to innovate, and our behaviour has to change too

You wouldn’t know it now, from my thousand-yard stare, but there was once a time – not even that long ago – when dating apps were pretty exciting, and even fun. In 2012, I was 21 and living in a small city; Tinder was a welcome breath of fresh air into that claustrophobic scene, offering a way into social circles adjacent to our own.

With time, the pitfalls and risks of the technology became apparent. But, in the beginning, there was optimism that dating apps not only worked as they claimed to, but could make our lives better

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist