shopping online opinion essay

IELTS Writing Task 2: Essay on online shopping/virtual shopping/e-shopping; with planning and model answer

This IELTS Writing Task 2 post is about ‘online shopping and its merits and demerits’ . Here, I’ve discussed the advantages and disadvantages of virtual/online/e-shopping and presented a model answer on this Task 2 question. This model answer can guide you to write an answer to any online shopping related essay.

Let’s have a look at the question we are going to discuss today.

The language of this task 2 question can be different in different exams.

Here’s another example of the same question:

An increasing number of people are buying what they need online.

What are the advantages and disadvantages for both individuals and companies to shopping online?

Nowadays, e-shopping or shopping online has an increasing trend among shoppers. It has both positive and negative sides. First, we need to make a plan for writing on this topic.

Here’s a short plan that may help you.

Planning and organisation:

Here is how I’ve planned the essay with a 4-paragraph structure:

• Introduction: topic + thesis (2 sentences can be sufficient): Introduce the topic – ‘online shopping getting more popular’. Then write a thesis on how you are going to show that there are some positives and negatives of the issue.
• Body paragraph on the reasons behind virtual shopping being so popular: You can write about straightforward ideas e.g. people get more convenience, and availability or choice of products. Give some real-life examples here.
• Body paragraph on the negative sides of online shopping: Again, present some very general ideas e.g. customers get cheated and people become more isolated. Give some real-life examples here too
• Conclusion: restate your ideas Online shopping has both advantages and disadvantages. You can give your personal opinion on how the disadvantages can be reduced.

Now let’s take a look at the model answer.

Model answer: expected band score – 7.5 to 8.0

In recent years, the rate of in-store shopping has plunged due to vast opportunities for buying different products including daily necessaries from hundreds of online stores. This essay will try to demonstrate chances such as convenience and product availability as the reasons behind the popularity of e-shopping whereas it will focus on swindling and isolation as the pitfalls of this issue.

Initially, the prime reason behind the popularity of e-shopping is convenience which can be easily understood from the thousands of virtual shops all over the world. To illustrate, people nowadays are busier than ever because of the fast pace of the world and they want to save as much time as they can for relaxation. Virtual shopping gives this magnificent prospect of time-saving and so people enjoy taking it. Besides, superstores sometimes run out of products in the precise moment when people need them which online shops rarely have this crisis. For instance, I needed a flat-screen monitor a few months ago but my local store had it out of stock. When I peeped into some online stores I found it easily on eBay.

Meanwhile, though shopping on the internet looks very promising, it is not without its setbacks. Many people, mostly the newcomers, regularly complain of getting tricked on virtual shopping and the rate of complaints is increasing at a faster rate. To explain, one of my friends has recently got swindled when he paid in advance for a smartwatch. Additionally, people often become isolated in their rooms through e-shopping which can affect their feelings and behaviour. As an example, a friend of mine started shopping online a couple of years ago even though the nearest superstore was only 500 metres away. His neighbours, nowadays, describe him as an ill-mannered and antisocial person which, needless to say, is the result of being home and becoming isolated from the outer world. 

In brief, virtual shoppers obtain greater benefits if compared to in-store shoppers. Converting such shopping to a stress-free experience, it is turning out to be progressively more convenient. However, as clients may sometimes get deceived and become cut off from the social world, concerned authorities should look into the matter cautiously. (360 words)

Here are some other Task 2 questions which can be answered taking help from the given essay example on online shopping:

• Some people support online shopping because it is convenient, while others argue that shopping on the internet poses threats. Discuss both views and give your opinions.
• Nowadays on-line shopping has become more popular than in-store shopping. Is it a positive or a negative development?
• Nowadays many people go shopping in their free time. Shopping has replaced many other activities that people used to choose as their hobby. What are the reasons for this? Is this a positive or negative development?

If you have written any answer to this question, you can post it in the comment box and we can discuss about it in details. 

Click here for a model answer to Cambridge 14 Test 4 Writing Task 2

Click here for a model answer to agree-disagree topic: elderly or young people as company leaders

Click here for a model answer to advantage-disadvantage topic: online shopping

Click here for a model answer to opinion essay: urbanization in countryside/ problem of housing

Click here for a model answer to opinion essay: qualities of a good supervisor/boss

Click here for a model answer to descriptive essay: advantages/facilities/benefits of vocational education 

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Online Shopping Essay

500+ words online shopping essay.

The trend of online shopping has increased in recent times with the increase of e-commerce and digital technology. With just a single click, you can shop for everything by sitting at your home as per your choice, convenience and budget. This essay on online shopping will help students learn about the pros and cons of online shopping. We have also compiled a list of CBSE Essays on different topics to help them improve their essay-writing skills. These essays will also help them improve their scores on the English exam.

What Does Online Shopping Mean?

Online shopping is the activity of buying products and services over the internet using a web browser or mobile app. It means buyers have to go online to reach a seller’s website and then select the product they want to purchase. The buyer can pay for the goods and services either online with a credit or debit card or upon delivery. Online shopping sites are also known by many other names such as e-shop, e-web-store, e-store, internet shop, web-store, web-shop, virtual store and online store. An online shop creates a physical analogy for buying products or services. Some of the famous online retailing corporations which facilitate the experience of online shopping are Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Myntra, etc.

Online shopping is a growing area of the digital world and technology. Establishing a store on the Internet gives various options to consumers. With the growth of online shopping, most businesses have started selling their products online. Now, just having physical stores is not enough in this fast-paced world. Having online store interfaces for consumers has also become essential for running a business in the current scenario.

Benefits of Online Shopping

There are numerous advantages of online shopping. People feel more convenient while shopping online. They can shop from anywhere at their own convenient time through easy and safe payment methods. Online shopping has empowered consumers with various advantages such as convenience and time-saving, lower search costs, better product selection, lower prices, etc. One of the biggest benefits of online shopping is that you can buy the items you want with just a single click. Online stores are open 24 hours a day and are accessible from any location with an internet connection.

Online stores carry more variations and provide more varieties of a product as compared to traditional stores. This is because online stores don’t need to attractively display their items on shelves, and they can keep a larger amount of inventory on hand. They might also have small amounts of each item since they don’t need to display them and can order more from their supplier as needed.

Online shops tend to provide more information about items for sale than you would get in a physical store. Product descriptions most often include a description from the manufacturer, another description from the vendor, specific technical and size details, reviews from professional magazines and journals, and reviews from people who have bought the product. Having all this information available when you are considering a purchase makes you a more informed consumer without having to perform extra research by yourself.

Online stores are not burdened by the costs of running a physical store, such as the rent of the physical premises and wages of sales staff. The cost savings by online stores lead to lower pricing on the internet, passing on cost savings to shoppers. The internet encourages online vendors to compete with one another by lowering prices.

Disadvantages of Online Shopping

The benefits of shopping online also come with potential risks and dangers. When you shop online, you can’t touch or try out the product. You have to depend upon product pictures only. You can’t buy the product instantly. If you don’t get the product in hand immediately after payment, you have to wait for delivery, which can take days to weeks. There is no guarantee that you will get the product in its original shape; it might get damaged on the way. Sometimes, the product is very different from the pictures and description due to various reasons and also has poor quality. If, after receiving the package, expectations weren’t met, you need to go through a returns process which can be time-consuming. Apart from these, there is also a chance of security threats from online shopping. If the site is not secured, you have a risk of losing your card information.

Online shopping is one of the convenient ways of purchasing different products. However, there are some products which are better if they are purchased from physical stores. So, in the future, we can expect online stores to improve their technology, making way for a much easier and faster shopping experience.

Students must have found the “Online Shopping Essay” essay useful. They can get the study material and the latest updates on CBSE/ICSE/State Board/Competitive Exams at BYJU’S.

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The Pros and Cons of Online Shopping

6 Benefits and Drawbacks To Keep in Mind When You Shop Online

Pros of Online Shopping

Cons of online shopping, how to make the most of online shopping, money-saving tips for online shopping, frequently asked questions (faqs).

The Balance / Jiaqi Zhou

Online shopping is more popular today than ever before. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau found that in the first quarter of 2022, an estimated $250 billion was spent in retail e-commerce sales. In the second quarter of 2011, for comparison, retail e-commerce sales were $47.5 billion.

Due in part to new and growing technology, online shopping has become incredibly easy and convenient. It also offers a greater selection than one storefront, opening the doors to products and services that may not be available at a nearby brick-and-mortar store .

While online shopping comes with a number of benefits, there are drawbacks to know about, too. Let's dive deeper into the pros and cons of shopping online.

Key Takeaways

• Online shopping is convenient and offers a variety of products you may not be able to find at your local stores.
• It's easier to comparison shop online, where you can access prices, reviews, and product details with a click.
• When you shop online, you need to wait for your product to be delivered to you, and you might spend more than you would if you went to a brick-and-mortar store.
• There's also a risk of fraud when you shop online, which you can combat by choosing trusted stores and paying with a card that offers fraud protection.

Convenience

Greater selection

Easy access to information

Can be more expensive

Increases risk of fraud

Leads to longer wait times

Using your computer or another digital device for your shopping needs can be convenient, offer more options, and provide insight you might not find in person at a store.

The greatest benefit of online shopping is its convenience. Through the digital space, you can buy anything you want from the comfort of your own home. Since online stores are open 24/7 and accessible from anywhere with internet access, it's easy to fit online shopping into your life no matter how busy you are. You don't have to plan your purchases based on when a brick-and-mortar store is open and available to serve you.

Greater Selection

Because products online live within the digital space, online retailers are not restricted to shelves and often have more inventory on hand with a wider selection of products. Also, online shopping gives you the chance to buy anything from any retailer, no matter where you're located. If you're in the market for a new lamp, for example, you'll have more options available to you than you would if you only shopped at stores in your local area.

Easy Access to Information

When shopping online, you will often find more details about a business's products than you would get in physical stores. Instead of speaking to one or two sales associates in person, you can peruse product descriptions, recommendations of similar products, and reviews from other shoppers online that may help you make a more informed purchasing decision.

Online retailers also tend to have membership options, typically via email or newsletters, that give shoppers early access to sales, seasonal releases , and other events. This way, you can be one of the first to know of offerings from your favorite brands.

Shopping for items online can also have its pitfalls, including hidden price mark-ups, an increased risk of fraud, and the inability to use or wear the item you purchased right away.

Can Be More Expensive

Online purchases can cost you more for several reasons. Even though many major online retailers offer free shipping, they generally require you to meet a minimum to qualify for it. In addition, online retailers may use several strategies to encourage you to buy more items or more expensive items than if you were shopping in person.

Depending on the state you live in, you may be required to pay an internet sales tax , too. In Texas, for example, you may have to pay a tax on out-of-state purchases delivered into Texas or purchases made from online-only sellers.

Many online retailers take part in digital tactics to convince shoppers to make more purchases, often considered impulse buys . Some include using "limited time" sale pop-ups that reset every time users reload the page, fake customer testimonials, or messages that promote higher-cost items.

Increases Risk of Fraud

Unfortunately, online shopping scams do exist. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), online shopping was the fourth most common fraud category for consumers as of February 2022. Some scammers pretend to be legitimate online sellers with fake websites or create fake ads on real sites.

Always pay by credit card rather than a debit card, as you can easily report fraud to your credit card company. Also, it is best to avoid online sellers that only accept payment via money transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. Scammers may encourage you to pay through these methods so they can access your money faster.

Leads to Longer Wait Times

When you shop at a brick-and-mortar store, you can walk away with the product you bought and use or wear it right away. Online shopping forces you to wait days, weeks, or even longer for your order to arrive. If you're in a time crunch and need a product right away, such as a gift, going to an in-person shop may be a better option for you.

These tips can allow you to enhance your online shopping experience.

Know Which Products To Buy Online

Some items are better to buy online than others because you can find countless consumer reviews, discounts, or other deals pertaining to them. For items you regularly use (such as a laptop, phone charger, luggage, or textbook), the internet may be the best place to compare offers. For things you require to have long-lasting value (like a car) or must get right away (such as groceries), shopping in person may be best.

Read Reviews

Before you check out, read reviews on the retailer's website as well as third-party sites like Google and Facebook. This can help you find out if the retailer is legitimate and whether there may be any potential issues with the product you're about to invest in. Reviews are beneficial for small businesses , too. Ninety-eight percent of consumers read online reviews of local businesses, according to marketing consultancy BrightLocal's 2022 Local Consumer Review Survey.

Some companies have more nuanced review options than others. Clothing rental service Nuuly, for example, lets its customers add photos of themselves wearing products with written reviews, enabling future customers to make empowered, smart purchasing decisions.

Examine Product Details

If you’re interested in a product, read its description. Make sure you know what it’s made out of, whether it comes with a warranty, what sizes are available, and so on. By doing so, you can avoid unwanted surprises that cost you time, money, and headaches when the product arrives.

There are many ways to save some money while making online purchases. Consider these tips to improve your online shopping experience.

Comparison Shop

If you have a specific product in mind, it's in your best interest to comparison shop, similar to how you would when looking for life insurance. Look at various online stores that offer what you want. Then, compare prices so you can find the best deal.

As you comparison shop, read product descriptions very closely. The FTC recommends looking out for words like "refurbished" or "vintage," as this could mean a product will arrive at your door in less-than-perfect condition.

Follow Online Retailers on Social Media

Online retailers often promote their sales and discounted items on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels. If you follow some of your favorite companies on social media, you may be one of the first to see and purchase the latest offers.

Use Money-Saving Apps or Plug-ins

There is no shortage of apps or plug-ins that can allow you to save money online without the hassle. Some examples are Honey, Swagbucks, Capital One Shopping, and Rakuten. You can also look for coupon codes online on sites like RetailMeNot.com and Coupons.com.

How do you get your money back from an online purchase?

This process varies by retailer. Some may automatically refund your money when you report a problem with your purchase; others may require you to return the product first. You may not be able to get your money back at all, especially if it's after the retailer's return window. If you're buying something that may not work for you, like clothing, check the retailer's refund policy before you buy.

How has the internet changed shopping?

The internet has completely changed the shopping experience. People have access to products from around the globe. Payments are instant, and recommendations are tailored to your shopping and browsing habits. Brick-and-mortar retailers have had to respond by launching websites and improving their in-person customer experience.

U.S. Census Bureau. " Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales 1st Quarter 2022 ," Page 1.

U.S. Census Bureau. " Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales 2nd Quarter 2011 ," Page 2.

Texas Comptroller's Office. " Taxes: Online Orders - Texas Purchasers and Sellers ."

University of Michigan. " Impulse Buying: Design Practices and Consumer Needs ," Pages 6, 9, and 11.

Federal Trade Commission. " Consumer Sentinel Network ," Page 7.

BrightLocal. " Local Consumer Review Survey 2022 ."

Nuuly. " Forget Me Not Mini Dress ."

Federal Trade Commission. " Online Shopping ," See "Comparison Shopping."

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Online Shopping Essay

Read online shopping essay for class 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Know more about essay on online shopping in English for students in 300 words. What is the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping essay.

Online Shopping Essay 300 Words

With the advancement in technology and science, people can now do various things at the comfort of their homes and one such thing is online shopping. It has gained a lot of spotlight due to its ever-increasing demand and craze among people. Online shopping refers to the way of purchasing things online without actually going to the physical stores. People nowadays are busy earning their livelihood and they hardly get any time to go for shopping, however, with the advent of online shopping, they can now order anything be it clothes, footwear, gadgets, appliances and much more.

There are numerous advantages of online shopping, let’s take an insight into it.

Online shopping is the best option for people who do not have much time and are busy in their office and business work.

It is a convenient way for the people who cannot withstand crowded places and malls for shopping so they can sit at their home or office and can order anything anytime.

Online shopping offers a vast variety of options which is not possible with physical shopping. You can browse through different websites and can choose the product according to your requirements.

Online shopping does not require physical cash and you can make payments through your debit or credit cards although you have an option of cash on delivery.

Well, everything comes with some disadvantages as well. Although online shopping is easy and convenient, however sometimes it disappoints you as things ordered online may not seem the same when they arrive at your door, the colour, the size or something else can be different from the actual item. Also, there are some websites that are fake and provide you with great offers to tempt you and befool you at the end. So it is important that we should do online shopping wisely and with much care in order to avoid any kind of chaos later on.

Large shopping malls are replacing small shops

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Essay#15 | Shopping

Set yourself a strict 40-minute time limit. Stop when the time is up. If you haven’t finished, think about what you could do to improve your timing. Consider these points:

• Have you spent too much time on the introduction, and not enough time on the body of the essay?
• Are the three paragraphs in the body of the essay more or less the same length?
• Did you spend too much time planning your essay before you started?
• Are you worrying too much about making small mistakes when you write?

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

In the past, shopping was a routine domestic task. Many people nowadays regard it as a hobby.

To what extent do you think this is a positive trend?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model answer.

Going shopping used to be a chore, but recently it has become a leisure activity or a pleasant outing. To my mind, it is debatable whether this can be regarded as a wholly positive development.

For earlier generations, buying food or consumer products involved visiting several shops, each with the same limited range on offer. Customers had less money and credit was not widely available. By contrast, shoppers nowadays can find almost anything in the supermarket or shopping mall. The comfortable environment, the variety of goods and attractions such as cafés and cinemas make spending money enjoyable.

Nowadays, with many parents working full-time, families have little time together. In my experience, it is normal to see families in the local shopping mall at weekends. Undoubtedly, one of the benefits of this is that they are together as a family. Nevertheless, this is not ideal, especially if it leaves no time for other activities, such as sport.

Another negative result of this change in attitudes is the effect it has on young people all over the world, who spend time in shopping malls. The reasons for this are the influence of advertising and the availability of credit cards. On the one hand, they are with friends in a safe environment, but on the other, it can tempt them to buy things they do not really need and may cause them to get into debt. Moreover, it would be better for their health if they met friends to go swimming.

In conclusion I would like to suggest that although shopping now is less tedious, this is not necessarily a positive trend. It may be good for the retailers, but not for consumers if it replaces other, healthier activities.

(286 words)

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The New Judge Shopping Fix Has Two Huge Loopholes

If you’ve been paying attention to the legal system recently, you’ve probably heard the term “forum shopping.” It’s usually invoked to criticize plaintiffs who file cases in places that don’t have a strong connection to the dispute: say, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia by a railroad worker who was exposed to asbestos in Ohio and Virginia.

But defendants forum shop too. By raising objections under technical doctrines of jurisdiction and venue, they can try to move cases to courts where they’ll have a better chance of winning. Think: Apple or Google seeking to move a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the Texas cities of Waco and Marshall, where, combined, over a third of the nation’s patent cases are filed, to their home base of Northern California.

Hold on. Did we just say that a third of all patent cases are filed in two small cities in Texas? We did, and it’s true.

Why do patent owners forum shop into those Texas federal courts? Because, as we’ve explained in a series of law review articles , the rules for assigning cases there allow plaintiffs to judge shop. Specifically, all cases filed in Waco were, before a recent change, assigned to a single judge—Alan Albright. Ditto for Marshall, where 90 percent of cases went to Judge Rodney Gilstrap.

Judges like Albright and Gilstrap have advertised to anyone who will listen that they want to bring patent cases to their courtrooms. (In contrast to forum shopping, judicial efforts to attract cases might be thought of as forum selling .) To bring cases in, the judges slant procedures and rulings to blatantly favor patent owners.

Many of the infringement lawsuits filed in Texas are weak on the merits; if the Texas courts weren’t so favorable for patent owners, many of the suits probably wouldn’t be filed at all. And the patent owners filing cases in Texas are primarily nonpracticing entities (pejoratively, “ patent trolls ”)—entities that don’t make anything and exist only to assert patents.

Bankruptcy is another area in which judge shopping has caused problems: courts with predictable case assignments in Delaware, Texas, and New York have openly appealed to what legal scholar Lynn LoPucki calls “case placers”—the executives and lawyers of the bankrupt company who hope the judge will reward them with a sweetheart compensation deal and high professional fees.

More recently, Republican state attorneys general and far-right advocacy groups have been shopping for judges in cases challenging the actions of the Biden administration. High-profile lawsuits about the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, the rescission of the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy, protections for transgender workers, and many more have all been filed in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, because a single judge hears nearly every case filed there.

That judge is Matthew Kacsmaryk. Before his appointment by former President Donald Trump, Kacsmaryk worked for a right-wing organization, the First Liberty Institute, that purports to help protect religious freedom.

Judge shopping has caused mayhem in all of these cases in all of these courts.

Fortunately, last week, the Judicial Conference of the United States (a group of judges that oversees the operation of the federal courts) issued a press release and guidance document touting the conference’s “strengthen[ing of] the policy governing random case assignment, limiting the ability of litigants to effectively choose judges in certain cases by where they file a lawsuit.”

Under the “strengthened policy,” certain cases will now be randomly assigned among all the judges of a district, not simply the subset of judges (or a single judge) sitting in the specific place the case was filed.

But there are two crucial problems with the policy.

First, the randomization policy applies only to “civil actions that seek to bar or mandate state or federal actions.” That is, the politically charged cases that are landing before Kacsmaryk—not patent cases and certainly not bankruptcy cases.

Second, the policy is just that: a policy, not a rule .

In fact, a group of Republican senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has written a letter to district court judges suggesting that they ignore the policy. That seems like a real possibility, particularly in courts that have benefited from judge shopping and forum selling, such as Kacsmaryk’s district, the Northern District of Texas, in which 10 of its 11 active judges were appointed by Republican presidents (and six were appointed by Trump).

The Judicial Conference itself seems to doubt whether it has the authority to mandate how district courts assign cases, citing a federal statute giving the power of case assignment to the district courts themselves and noting the “wide latitude” and “flexibility” courts have in designing case assignment systems. Indeed, Judge James Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5 th Circuit (the court that hears appeals arising from cases in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) has suggested that the conference’s policy conflicts with that federal statute and, like McConnell and other Republicans, has urged judges to ignore the policy.

The exclusion of patent cases from the policy is also odd and disappointing. After all, the issue of judge shopping was first brought to the Judicial Conference’s attention in a letter , written by Sens. Patrick Leahy and Thom Tillis, specifically about patent cases. (That letter relied heavily on our scholarship identifying and criticizing the judge shopping phenomenon.)

The Judicial Conference’s guidance document does encourage district courts to “avoid case assignment practices that result in the likelihood that a case will be assigned to a particular judge” in all civil cases, including patent cases. But again, that guidance isn’t binding.

Basically, the Judicial Conference seems to be saying: Judge shopping is bad, district courts shouldn’t assign cases in ways that allow it, but there’s nothing we can really do about it. That’s an unfortunately toothless approach to a serious problem. It’s also a crabbed view of the group’s statutory authority to “prescribe general rules of practice and procedure … in the United States district courts.”

All that said, it’s encouraging that the conference has judge shopping in its sights. It’s possible future reform will come. And it should. The federal courts are facing a crisis of legitimacy, largely because of the radical political agenda pursued by Trump-appointed judges from the district courts all the way up to the Supreme Court. Ending judge shopping would restore at least some semblance of neutrality to the court system.

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Guest Essay

It’s Not You: Dating Apps Are Getting Worse

By Magdalene J. Taylor

Ms. Taylor is a writer covering sex and culture.

“The golden age of dating apps is over,” a friend told me at a bar on Super Bowl Sunday. As we waited for our drinks, she and another friend swiped through Bumble and Hinge, hunting for new faces and likes. Across the bar were two young men: phones out, apps open, clearly doing the exact same thing. Never did the duos meet.

What’s lamentable here isn’t only that dating apps have become the de facto medium through which single people meet. Since 2019, three in 10 U.S. adults have reported using them, with that figure rising to roughly six in 10 for Americans under 50 who have never been married. Not only are people not meeting partners in bars or any of the once normal in-person venues — they’re barely meeting them on the apps, either.

Maybe most of us just aren’t as hot as we used to be. Maybe it’s time our inflated egos got knocked down a notch. Maybe the market of people still willing to put themselves out there in an attempt to date has gotten smaller. Or maybe the apps have functionally, intentionally gotten worse, as have our romantic prospects. The more they fail to help us form relationships, the more we’re forced to keep swiping — and paying.

The internet, where so many of us spend so much of our time, has not been spared from the decline in quality that seems to plague so much of consumer life. This phenomenon was described by the writer Cory Doctorow in a November 2022 blog post and is sometimes called “platform decay”: Tech platforms like Amazon, Reddit and X have declined in quality as they’ve expanded. These sites initially hooked consumers by being almost too good to be true, attempting to become essential one-stop shops within their respective spaces while often charging nothing, thanks to low interest rates and free-flowing venture capital funding . Now that we’re all locked in and that capital has dried up, those initial hooks have been walked back — and there’s nowhere else to go.

This is precisely what is happening with dating apps now, too, with much more urgent consequences. What’s worsening isn’t just the technological experience of online dating but also our ability to form meaningful, lasting connections offline.

The collapse of dating apps’ usability can be blamed on the paid subscription model and the near-monopoly these apps have over the dating world. While dozens of sites exist, most 20-something daters use the big three: Tinder, Hinge and Bumble. (Older people often gravitate toward Match.com or eHarmony.) All three sites offer a “premium” version users must pay for — according to a study conducted by Morgan Stanley , around a quarter of people on dating apps use these services, averaging out at under $20 a month. The purpose, many believe, is to keep them as paid users for as long as possible. Even if we hate it, even if it’s a cycle of diminishing returns, there is no real alternative.

In the early heyday of Tinder, the only limits on whom you could potentially match with were location, gender and age preferences. You might not have gotten a like back from someone you perceived to be out of your league, but at least you had the chance to swipe right. Today, however, many apps have pooled the people you’d most like to match with into a separate category (such as Hinge’s “Standouts” section), often only accessible to those who pay for premium features. And even if you do decide to sign up for them, many people find the idea of someone paying to match with them to be off-putting anyway.

“If I don’t pay, I don’t date,” a friend in his 30s told me. He spends around $50 a month on premium dating app subscriptions and digital “roses” to grab the attention of potential matches. He’s gone on 65 dates over the last year, he said. None have stuck, so he keeps paying. “Back in the day, I never would have imagined paying for OKCupid,” he said.

Yet shares (Bumble’s stock price has fallen from about $75 to about $11 since its I.P.O.) and user growth have fallen , so the apps have more aggressively rolled out new premium models. In September 2023, Tinder released a $500 per month plan. But the economics of dating apps may not add up .

On Valentine’s Day this year, Match Group — which owns Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, OKCupid and many other dating apps — was sued in a proposed class action lawsuit asserting that the company gamifies its platforms “to transform users into gamblers locked in a search for psychological rewards that Match makes elusive on purpose.” This is in contrast to one of the group’s ad slogans that promotes Hinge as “designed to be deleted.”

People are reporting similar complaints across the apps — even when they aren’t taking the companies to court. Pew Research shows that over the last several years, the percentage of dating app users across demographics who feel dissatisfied with the apps has risen . Just under half of all users report feeling somewhat to very negative about online dating, with the highest rates coming from women and those who don’t pay for premium features. Notably, there is a gender divide: Women feel overwhelmed by messages, while men are underwhelmed by the lack thereof.

With seemingly increasing frequency, people are going to sites like TikTok , Reddit and X to complain about what they perceive to be a dwindling group of eligible people to meet on apps. Commonly, complaints are targeted toward these monthly premium fees, in contrast to the original free experience. Dating has always cost money, but there’s something uniquely galling about the way apps now function. Not only does it feel like the apps are the only way to meet someone, just getting in the door can also comes with a surcharge.

Perhaps dating apps once seemed too good to be true because they were. We never should have been exposed to what the apps originally provided: the sense that the dating pool is some unlimited, ever-increasing-in-quality well of people. Even if the apps are not systematically getting worse but rather you’ve just spent the last few years as a five thinking you should be paired with eights, the apps have nonetheless fundamentally skewed the dating world and our perception of it. We’ve distorted our understanding of how we’d organically pair up — and forgotten how to actually meet people in the process.

Our romantic lives are not products. They should not be subjected to monthly subscription fees, whether we’re the ones paying or we’re the ones people are paying for. Algorithmic torture may be happening everywhere, but the consequences of feeling like we are technologically restricted from finding the right partner are much heavier than, say, being duped into buying the wrong direct-to-consumer mattress. Dating apps treat people like commodities, and encourage us to treat others the same. We are not online shopping. We are looking for people we may potentially spend our lives with.

There is, however, some push toward a return to the real that could save us from this pattern. New in-person dating meet-up opportunities and the return of speed dating events suggests app fatigue is spreading. Maybe we’ll start meeting at bars again — rather than simply swiping through the apps while holding a drink.

Have you ditched dating apps for a new way to meet people, or are you still swiping left?

Opinion wants to hear your story.

Magdalene J. Taylor (@ magdajtaylor ) is a writer covering sex and culture. She writes the newsletter “ Many Such Cases .”

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