And it’s not just the apps that are the culprits. To cite just one of dozens of examples, Sales connects a 2018 study on the rise in levels of loneliness among Generation Z and millennials to dating apps. Sales (who also directed and wrote “Swiped,” an HBO documentary on this subject) has taken a deep dive into app use, and the results of her research are not as pretty as that candid profile selfie that took you an hour to set up. Listen to our podcast: Featuring conversations with leading figures in the literary world, from Colson Whitehead to Leila Slimani, the Book Review Podcast helps you delve deeper into your favorite books.That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? Nominate a book: The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125.See what’s new in October: Among this month’s new titles are novels by Jonathan Franzen, a history of Black cinema and a biography by Katie Couric.Learn what you should be reading this fall: Our collection of reviews on books coming out this season includes biographies, novels, memoirs and more.Want to keep up with the latest and greatest in books? This is a good place to start. This buffet of humanity spread out on our little screens is precisely what dehumanizes us: Even when we’re full, we keep eating. The swiping, the likes, the pressure to have sex combined with the pressure not to appear needy - all are making us unhappy. Or do they? Because that is the startling premise of this book: that apps are actually designed to keep us hooked, and hooking up, while preventing us from finding lasting love. “Nothing Personal,” which is very very personal, explores what Sales calls “the corporate takeover of dating.” Apps like Tinder, Grindr, Bumble and OKCupid have facilitated or exploited (depending on how you look at it) the most basic of human needs: the desire to connect. I’ve just spent four hours staring at my Kindle, murmuring to no one in particular: Nancy, don’t text him, Nancy, honey, don’t do it, be strong, resist this one time, Nancy. Because this is real life - and worse, this is the author’s real life. Unfortunately, reading Nancy Jo Sales’s latest, a fascinating but harrowing account of our relationship to dating apps, does not offer the same pleasure. It’s great to be in a community of like-minded people shouting advice to imperiled B actors onscreen: Do NOT go into that basement.
In less plague-y times, I loved taking in a midnight horror movie in Times Square. NOTHING PERSONAL My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno By Nancy Jo Sales