San Francisco has always been a city of ambition. It’s where people come to build companies, disrupt industries, and chase big ideas. But somewhere between the product launches and funding rounds, a lot of talented, successful people look up and realize they’re exhausted, burned out, and very, very single.

If you’re reading this from your NoPa apartment at 10pm on a Tuesday after another 12-hour day, wondering when you’re supposed to fit dating into all of this — you’re not alone. And you’re not failing at dating. You’re just trying to date in a city that makes it incredibly hard.

Here's what nobody tells you about dating in 2026: Most of the stress isn't about finding someone. It's about the way we're trying to find someone.

We've let technology convince us that love should be instant, that chemistry should be obvious from a profile, that compatibility can be determined by an algorithm. We've let dating app culture turn us into products marketing ourselves to other products.

And it's making us miserable.

The solution isn't a better app. It's not a better bio. It's not better photos or better openers or better dating strategies.

The solution is remembering how to be human.

Here’s what nobody wants to admit: dating has become work. Not the good kind of work that comes with growth and possibility, but the exhausting, soul-draining kind that makes you want to quit entirely.

You know the feeling. You open the apps after a long day. You swipe. You craft witty opening messages. You schedule coffee dates with strangers. You repeat your life story for the fifth time this month. You navigate the logistics of meeting someone new while managing your actual job, your friendships, your family, your life. And somewhere in the middle of all this, you’re supposed to feel excited about romance?

The apps promised efficiency. They delivered a treadmill.

Dating apps have failed the kink community spectacularly.

Not because kinky people don’t use them, they do. But because algorithms can’t facilitate the kind of nuanced conversations needed to find a long-term partner who shares your sexual interests, boundaries, and desires.

That’s about to change. And matchmaking, not apps, will lead the way.

There's a particular exhaustion that comes with modern dating. Not the kind you feel after a long day at work, but something more disorienting; the fatigue of never quite knowing where you stand.

You meet someone. The conversation flows. There's laughter, eye contact, what feels like genuine connection. Then silence. Or worse: breadcrumbs. A text every few days that keeps you guessing but never quite commits to anything real.

Modern dating often feels like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded. You meet someone, feel a spark, and then… nothing makes sense. The texts slow down. Plans feel uncertain. You’re left wondering if you’re on the same page, or even reading the same book.

This confusion isn’t a personal failing. It’s a structural problem with how dating typically unfolds; full of ambiguity, mismatched expectations, and unspoken assumptions. Let’s break down the six most common confusion points in dating, and how matchmaking provides the clarity that changes everything.

I’ve spent five years building Met By Nick from my personal savings. As I expanded my singles network to other cities and countries, my sister Melissa and I formed QUALITY in conjunction with Met By Nick.

I’m proud of what we’ve built. We’ve survived doing this full time and have a bright future in this industry.

But let me be real with you.

I sacrificed any financial gain to attract more people to matchmaking. I started at rates below $5,000 because I believed in this work. I wanted to expose singles to an alternative to the apps that are currently destroying our dating culture.

Through this period, I finally understand why my industry colleagues said never charge below $10,000.

The dating app experiment is over, and the results are in: it didn’t work. Singles spent years swiping, matching, and messaging, only to end up right back where they started: frustrated, burned out, and single.

The problem was never you. Dating apps are designed to keep you on the app, not to get you into a relationship. Their business model depends on your failure. Every successful relationship is a lost customer. Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com, openly states in their SEC filings that their revenue depends on user engagement, not user success.

Guys all around are cracking beers in excitement over joining Bethenny Frankel’s service. Finally, someone gets it. Finally, someone with real credentials is stepping in to fix this broken, miserable dating landscape.

Her stance against matchmakers is brave. A woman like her having disdain for a female-dominated industry such as matchmaking is courageous and heroic, which is what America is all about. Her credibility is unmatched. We’re talking about a woman who built her empire on Real Housewives of New York and the Skinnygirl brand.

In my matchmaking practice, I’ve begun incorporating 67 principles into how I evaluate potential matches. It’s not about whether someone posts 67 on social media, it’s about whether they demonstrate the underlying dynamics.

Justin McLeod, the founder and former CEO of Hinge, just announced he’s stepping down to launch Overtone, a new AI matchmaking app that promises to be “like working with an all-star personal matchmaker.” As someone who has worked as a professional matchmaker for over five years, I need to call out what’s really happening here: another tech CEO who has never done the actual work of matchmaking thinks he can automate away the humans who do it.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: he’s going to fail. Not because AI doesn’t have its place in dating, but because he fundamentally misunderstands what matchmaking actually is.

The matchmaking industry is growing rapidly while dating apps plateau. More people are willing to pay for alternatives. The cultural moment is shifting toward human-curated connections over algorithmic matching.

If you’re someone who already connects people, who cares about your friends’ romantic lives, who throws events or builds communities; you’re sitting on a business opportunity that most people don’t see yet.

The sooner you recognize that facilitating romantic connections for the people in your life is valuable work that can be monetized, the sooner you can build something sustainable around it.

We’re facing the worst job market for college graduates in five years. Student loan debt has reached $1.77 trillion. Young people with degrees are competing with high school graduates for the same jobs and losing. The American Dream isn’t just dying, it’s being actively killed by the very institutions that promised to deliver it.

This isn’t about the economy. This isn’t about AI or globalization or any other convenient scapegoat. This is about a system that takes billions from families who can’t afford it, delivers a product that doesn’t work, hides the evidence, and then asks for donations.

Universities are running the biggest con in American history. And it’s time someone said it.

Washington, DC should be one of the easiest cities to date in. Young, educated, ambitious professionals everywhere. People who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. A population that values intelligence and achievement.

Instead, it’s become one of the most frustrating dating markets in the country.

The problem isn’t the people. It’s the system we’ve all bought into.

Dating apps promised us efficiency. Endless options. The ability to “optimize” our love lives the same way we optimize our careers. For a city full of people who are used to working hard and seeing results, this pitch was irresistible.

When NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office this week, the conversation centered on what matters most to New Yorkers: affordability. Lower food costs. Lower housing costs. A safer city.

It’s exactly what politicians should be talking about. New York City has become prohibitively expensive for the people who actually live here, and any meaningful conversation about making the city livable again deserves attention.

But there’s one massive demographic that continues to get ignored in these affordability discussions: singles.

Winter first dates in NYC offer unique advantages over other seasons. The cold weather creates natural closeness, holiday decorations add magic, and cozy indoor venues encourage extended conversation. From iconic ice skating at Rockefeller Center to intimate cocktails at hidden speakeasies, NYC’s winter dating scene thrives on variety and romance.

The best winter first dates combine outdoor adventure (ice skating, holiday markets, winter walks) with indoor warmth (cozy restaurants, cocktail lounges, museums). This contrast creates shared experiences ; braving cold together, then warming up over drinks while discussing the adventure.

Forget ghosting. Move over, breadcrumbing. Gaslighting is so last season. According to matchmaker Nick Rosen, who has interviewed thousands of singles nationwide and internationally, there’s a new red flag that’s creating unprecedented consensus in the dating world: being mentioned in the Epstein files.

“I’ve been in this business for years, and I’ve never seen such unanimous agreement on a deal-breaker,” says Rosen, founder of Met By Nick and co-founder of QUALITY matchmaking. “This is joining the ranks of traditional red flags, but honestly, it might be surpassing them.”

I’m writing to express my deep gratitude to Tucker Carlson for having me on his show to discuss matchmaking and the current state of dating in America. Though I must clarify for the major news outlets who seem to have their spell-check on the fritz: my name is Nick Rosen — R-O-S-E-N — not Fuentes. I’m the matchmaker who says kind things about people, not that other, younger internet personality known for, shall we say, a different approach to discourse.

Nikola Jokić is appointment television. He’s worth staying up past 1 a.m. for. He’s worth waking up at 3 a.m. for. Because what we’re witnessing right now; this sustained excellence, this artistic expression disguised as a game, is historic.

Thank you, Nikola Jokić, for being normal. For being down to earth. For proving that greatness doesn’t require a brand, a persona, or a social media following. Just talent, work ethic, and an almost supernatural understanding of the game.

The level of ignorance and lack of self-awareness in modern dating is absolutely mind-boggling. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the pathetic, irritating chorus of single people complaining about the opposite sex.

You know what’s exhausting? Listening to grown adults rant about how terrible women are. You know what’s equally annoying? Hearing women trash all men as if half the population is fundamentally broken.

It’s pathetic. It’s embarrassing. And it’s a massive advertisement for exactly why these people are still single.