The Cut - Tinder Hearted

I first downloaded Tinder in the spring of 2013, seven months after it launched. I’d heard about it as a concept (Grindr for straights) but felt exempt from needing it until one evening at the tail end of a drawn-out breakup with someone I’d told myself I would marry. We were at a restaurant in San Francisco, having one of too many brutal good-bye dinners that led to this-is-the-last-time-I-swear sex, and I put the app on my phone in front of him. He stoically chugged his negroni while I marveled at the hundreds, presumably thousands of men who were waiting for me on the other end, should he decide to go through with the breakup. “Look!” I said, waving my iPhone 5 in his face. (I didn’t mention that at this early point in the app’s history, it was mostly populated by 20-year-old college students and S.F. tech bros who exclusively wore free T-shirts from start-ups.) By June, my boyfriend had gone through with the breakup and moved on — quickly and not via app — to a woman he’d met through mutual friends. I wanted to die. But instead of the sweet relief of death: Tinder.

Early Thursday morning, Mercury enters Virgo — find out what that means for your weekly horoscope. Why is it so damn hard for us to take time off work? Do yourself (namely, your cognitive health) a favor and cut way back on ultraprocessed foods. Booze, too, for your skin’s sake. Everything new at Trader Joe’s this month, from ube mochi to cacio e pepe gnocchi. How a badass mom took down the self-described “king of revenge porn.” A journalist reporting on an Alabama execution was told her skirt was too short for the premises. Florida teachers are being told they can’t mention their same-sex partners because it could violate DeSantis’s ban on LGBTQ+ discussions in schools. Some states — Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Nebraska — denied about 90 percent of welfare applicants in 2020, but, hey, it ain’t all bad. And it’s finally August, a.k.a. time to start gearing up for Halloween!

Sign up to get Brooding, a new biweekly newsletter delivering deep thoughts on modern family life.