I mainly used Hinge and Bumble. Fully fleshed out, verified profiles on both of them, clearly describing what I was after (ie, after a serious relationship, looking for a child-free vegan partner etc). Had premium subscription on both of them too, for more filter options and chances of getting matched. I also followed the golden rule of only swiping right on someone who actually matched my interests, and someone I could see myself having a relationship with (so no swiping on Instagram models and obvious catfishers).
I did get matches, but ALL the chats went nowhere. They all start off well, we make some small talks and the chats frizzle off over time or they ghost you.
I was doing this religiously for several months, spending at least an hour or two each day, going thru all the profiles, reading all their bios, searching again with different filters in case my strict filters missed someone etc. And after months of doing this, I burnt out. I didn’t manage to land a single meetup, never mind actually having a date. It made me very depressed and my self esteem took a big blow, it made me wonder whether it was really worth wasting so much time on this, only to end up getting depressed. So I binned the whole idea of actively looking for someone, and thought I’d be best to leave it up to fate, and decided to just go back and focus on my career and hobbies instead.
It’s been over six months now since I’ve been away from the dating game and mentally I’m doing so much better. I’ve got a new job which is going well too, I’ve been hitting my goal of 10,000 steps a day and have pretty much sorted out all my diet/nutrition bits where I was lacking a bit previously, plus I’m enjoying the new Cyberpunk 2077 update on my PS5 which has finally lived up to its hype, so, life is good and I can’t really complain. I’ve accepted that not all people can have everything, so I’ve moved on. In saying that, I would be lying if I didn’t feel jealous seeing people with partners or when I see threads like these, but I guess I just have to not dwell on it, and move on with my life.