u/primatecode

I'm 32 years old, and after being in a relationship for eight years, I'm single again.

I've seen a lot of people online talking about how difficult the dating scene is nowadays. People often say there are a lot of men competing for relatively few women, and that some women have very high expectations and an unrealistic list of things a man is supposed to be or have.

I'd like to try dating apps, mainly because I sometimes find it difficult to just go to a bar or a party, approach someone, and start a conversation.

However, the internet is full of people who say they've had terrible experiences on Tinder and other dating apps.

What do you think about that? Do you think I should give dating apps a try? What's your take on them?

I’m 28M and my girlfriend is 27F. We’ve been together for 3 years, and around our second year together, I started noticing that we were having these conversations a lot more often.

At first, they were more serious talks, but these days they’re mostly just conversations to make sure we’re on the same page. Still, they happen pretty often — about once a week.

Is that normal? Since I’m usually the one who brings these conversations up, sometimes I worry that I’m being the annoying guy in the relationship.

At the same time, I actually like having these conversations because I’d rather talk about things now than have problems later over something we never discussed.

How often do you guys have these kinds of conversations with your partner?

TL;DR: My girlfriend and I have relationship talks about once a week. I usually bring them up because I’d rather talk about things now than deal with bigger problems later. Is that normal?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I feel like long-term relationships are kinda becoming more and more rare. And honestly, when I look at dating apps these days, it kinda reinforces that feeling. A lot of them seem to be focused on casual dating and quick connections, instead of actually getting to know someone and building something deeper.

Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

This is actually one of the reasons I decided to build an app after going through some pretty rough breakups myself. The idea is to get people to actually talk and get to know each other before taking things to the next level, whether that's in a relationship or even a friendship.

The app called TheFlags (iOS only) and it's free.

Sometimes we think we know someone really well, but there are still a lot of important things couples never really talk about until it’s too late. Things like values, expectations, money, family, kids, lifestyle, boundaries, and what you both want for the future.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I feel like long-term relationships are kinda becoming more and more rare. And honestly, when I look at dating apps these days, it kinda reinforces that feeling. A lot of them seem to be focused on casual dating and quick connections, instead of actually getting to know someone and building something deeper.

Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

This is actually one of the reasons I decided to build an app after going through some pretty rough breakups myself. The idea is to get people to actually talk and get to know each other before taking things to the next level, whether that's in a relationship or even a friendship.

The app is called TheFlags and it's currently available for iPhone. I’m still working on it and trying to figure out if this is something people actually want, so I'd honestly love to hear what you guys think.

Anyway, just curious about your experiences.