The following is excerpted from an online article posted by Yahoo
Friend-making apps are increasingly popular. The number of people who use BFF (a version of Bumble’s dating site tailored to making friends) at least once a week has grown by 80 percent year over year, according to a Bumble spokesperson. Advertisements for the app are plastered over subway stations and posted on social media feeds. BFF, which launched in 2016, is now one of many apps promising platonic matches: Timeleft, 222 and Sonder all launched in the past three years.
That growth coincides with the so-called “loneliness epidemic”: The number of Americans with no close friends quadrupled from 1990 to 2021. Men have been hit hardest; 1 in 5 single men report having no close friends at all.
As far back as 2000, Robert Putnam argued that technological isolation, urban sprawl and the disintegration of civic organizations had eroded social capital in his book, “Bowling Alone.” The settings for making friends have only grown fewer in the years since.
Sara Rollens, 32, turned to a friendship app but discovered they had many of the same pitfalls associated with online dating: She has deleted and redownloaded BFF over the course of four years. She’s rejected men who hoped the friend dates would turn romantic and women who hoped Rollens would join their multilevel marketing ventures. She’s been platonically love-bombed by matches. She was even ghosted by one person after three dates.
Eric Balki says that much like dating apps, friendship apps “are designed to keep you on there. The business model is misaligned to the demand.”
If matches were optimal, he notes, users would leave the app. “It ends up making you more lonely and defeated,” he says.
Bumble says that it encourages in-person interactions, via events and “Groups” built around hobbies and interests. “We know people are craving real-world connection and more opportunities to spend meaningful time together in person. What we’re seeing on BFF reinforces that desire,” a Bumble spokesperson told The Washington Post.