Sep 13, 2026 · 33 min
Dating apps falter as singles rebuild connection offline
How to date IRL
The episode examines why romantic relationships are declining while many people still want intimacy, and offers ways to date with more agency.
- 1Dating-app burnout reflects broader declines in dating, sex, cohabitation, and marriage, alongside persistent desire for partnership.
- 2Lily Womble frames offline dating as a practice built through joy, friends, flirting, and resilience to rejection.
- 3Apps can remain useful when daters impose time limits, messaging standards, and boundaries against overload and scarcity-driven settling.
Don't miss
Lily Womble turns dating advice into a framework of joy building, co-conspiratorship, flirting, and rejection resilience.
The brief
At a singles event, Noel King hears why dating apps feel superficial, exhausting, and low-engagement—and why meeting people in person still carries appeal despite its risks.
Faith Hill places those frustrations in a wider romance slump: sex, dating, cohabitation, and marriage are declining across groups, even as many still seek partnership.
Dating coach Lily Womble argues that connection can be rebuilt through joy building, friends as co-conspirators, and flirting treated as a learnable skill rather than a performance.
Womble’s rejection-resilience plan and co-created dating model shift the burden away from one-sided pursuit, especially after years of reduced social practice.
The episode’s practical compromise is neither abandoning apps nor surrendering to them: set limits, define standards, and date for pleasure, agency, and self-knowledge.
Featuring
Noel King
Lily WombleMentioned
Thank You, More Please, A Feminist's Guide to Breaking Dumb Dating Rules and Finding Love
The AtlanticBooks & mentions
Listen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.