Dating App Height Filters

Logan Ury, dating coach and director of relationship science at Hinge, discusses how dating app filters create artificial barriers in the dating market, particularly for men and women seeking partners.

Key Points:

• Height Filter Problem:

  • Many women set their height filter at 6 feet or taller
  • Only 14% of men in the US are 6 feet or taller
  • This creates a significant mismatch between expectations and reality

• Dating App Dynamics:

  • Apps have perpetuated unrealistic filtering that users set without considering implications
  • "Your app is a club and your filters are a bouncer filtering him out"
  • Disproportionate attention goes to men over 6 feet
  • Women generally receive far more matches than men
  • Some women get "so many more people interested in them than they could ever go through"

• Modern Dating Crisis:

  • Young men are falling behind in education and employment
  • Women practice "hypergamous mating" (seeking partners of equal or higher status)
  • As women outpace men in education and earnings, the pool of eligible men shrinks
  • College enrollment is 60% women, soon to be two-thirds
  • This creates a "mating crisis" where desired men don't exist in sufficient numbers

• Societal Implications:

  • Marriage rates nearing all-time low in the US
  • Fertility rate has dropped 20% in twenty years
  • Rise in polyamorous relationships partly due to shortage of "great guys"
  • "This is actually a crisis for humanity"

• Advice for Dating App Success:

  • Profile quality matters most - "like buying a billboard on the 101"
  • Have a clear first photo showing your face (no filters/sunglasses)
  • Invest in good quality photos with proper lighting
  • "The quality of male profiles is so low" that following basic advice puts you ahead
  • "Date like a scientist" - be willing to run experiments and challenge your assumptions