Have dating apps ruined romance?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Have dating apps ruined romance?". Your opponent's style: Sherlock Holmes

Yes I agree that dating apps has ruined romance as it turned dating into something of a trend and a lifestyle insted of it more relying on the soul now it just a checklist for both

You've got it backwards. Dating apps haven't killed romance, they've democratized it. Before apps, romance was a luxury for the connected few—workplace meetups, friend groups, chance encounters at bars. Now? A shy engineer in rural Montana can find someone who genuinely shares their obscure passions. That's more soul-based, not less. Your "checklist" complaint is pure nostalgia. People always filtered for compatibility—looks, income, values. Apps just made it transparent instead of pretending it was fate. And the "trend" argument ignores reality: over 30% of couples now meet online. That's not a fad, that's the new normal. Where's the romance in limited options and settling?

If swiping left to right matches without focusing on charcter of that person or his or her feelings and emotions and only focusing on looks. I belive is not called romance but human selection

You're describing the worst version of apps, not the inevitable one. Yes, shallow people exist—they always did. But apps let you filter by values, interests, education, humor. You can read someone's actual thoughts before meeting. That's character-focused, not looks-focused. The real problem? You're conflating the tool with the user. A knife doesn't ruin cooking because someone uses it poorly. Plenty of people use apps specifically to find depth, not just pretty faces. They message for hours, discover shared vulnerabilities, build real connection. Your "human selection" argument proves my point: people were always selective. Apps just made it honest instead of pretending Cupid did the work.