Gone are the days when you simply met people in the pub or through friends and the hinge was just a connecting piece on a door.
Instead, we are forced to endlessly swipe right to find our soulmate.
But with an estimated two million Britons suffering from undiagnosed ADHD, being unlucky in love online could be a possible sign of the condition, new research suggests.
Experts found that more than a fifth of single people with mental illness are more likely to feel overwhelmed by dating apps than non-ADHD daters.
According to the research, by dating app Hinge, three in four ADHD daters also report feeling misunderstood when using it.
With an estimated two million Brits living with undiagnosed ADHD, being unlucky in love online could be a possible sign of the condition, new research suggests
Meanwhile, a third admitted struggling with small talk on dating apps.
Now a team of PhD students and behavioral scientists working for the app want to make it easier for people with ADHD to tackle these problems.
NHS statistics show that more than 230,000 people in England are now taking ADHD drugs to combat their inattention and hyperactivity.
The number of prescriptions rose by a fifth last year, marking the biggest annual increase since modern recording began in 2015.
Data shows this is largely driven by a rise in the number of women in their 20s and 30s, although figures among children are still rising.
In the study, Hinge surveyed 9,000 users with a clinical ADHD diagnosis about their experiences with online dating.
They found that people with ADHD are 22 percent more likely to feel overwhelmed by dating apps than neurotypical daters.
Daters with the condition were also 38 percent more likely to report finding it difficult to keep conversations going.
When assessing why they felt overwhelmed, 43 percent admitted that they often forget to respond to competitions.
However, matches often assume their slow response means they’re not interested, they said.
One research volunteer Tarah Clark, an Australian content creator, said: ‘I wish my matches understood that when I forgot to respond, it wasn’t due to a lack of interest – it was just that my brain often became overwhelmed or distracted.
“Whenever someone sent me a friendly reminder, I appreciated it.
“A follow-up message brought the conversation back to the forefront of my mind, and I was always happy to continue talking.
‘Understanding each other’s challenges made connecting so much easier.’
Nearly a third (31 percent) of daters with ADHD were more likely than neurotypical daters to report not liking small talk, the researchers found.
Hinge advised ADHD users to provide clarity from the start about being honest about communication and dating styles.
Researchers also suggested moving from a digital conversation to an in-person date after about three days of chatting.
It is believed that around half of all 18 to 34 year olds in Britain have used dating apps.
There are more than 1,400 in Great Britain alone.
But a recent Forbes survey found that 79 percent of Generation Z describe themselves as “burned out” thanks to online dating.
In March, NHS England announced it would launch a new taskforce to investigate the worrying rise in the number of adults and children being diagnosed with ADHD.
Experts have warned that rogue private clinics are overdiagnosing the condition and have questioned the widespread prescribing of powerful stimulant drugs to treat the condition.
The booming market is believed to be driven by celebrities such as model Katie Price and Love Island star Olivia Attwood talking about their ADHD ordeal and waiting up to ten years for an NHS assessment.
Users also share on social media sites how medication helped them calm down, control their fidgeting and improve their concentration.
Fascinating graphs show how the number of ADHD prescriptions has increased over time, with the demographic shift of the patient population from children to adults, with women in particular now driving the increase
Earlier this year, a psychologist warned that a rise in awareness of ADHD has disrupted society’s understanding of neurodiversity and what constitutes ‘typical’ behavior.
Dr. Lisa Williams, director of The Autism Service, which runs 29 clinics in England and Wales, said: ‘If we are not more careful, diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD will be meaningless, as every other person we meet sees us as such labeled.’
She added: ‘The more we broaden and blur the diagnoses of ASD and ADHD, the more people will ‘fit’ into the category and the less specialist care will be available for people with true developmental disabilities.’
But experts have also argued that ADHD was not officially listed as a disorder affecting adults in Britain until 2008.
Before, it was simply recognized as a childhood problem that children grew out of.
As a result, some experts argue that many adults who are now being told they have ADHD, rather than being over-diagnosed, have been dismissing their symptoms for years.