Skip to main content

A Valentine’s Day gift from Hinge: Book tells stories of digital dating gone right

hinge irl cover
Image used with permission by copyright holder
What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with stories of other people’s dates? If your answer is “none,” then, boy, do we have the book for you. It’s called IRL, and curiously enough, it’s a book published by dating app Hinge to remind folks that romance might still exist, even if you can’t find it by swiping on your phone. With more than 40 date stories, new statistics about digital dating, and the best date spots from across the country, this book just may be what you need to turn your love life around.

Described as a “refreshingly hopeful take on modern love,” IRL, which stands for “in real life,” seeks to highlight success stories that have emerged from what is often the cesspool of online dating. While we all have our horror stories, it only takes one winner to make the whole process worthwhile.

“Digital dating has gotten a bad rap lately — there are bad actors and swipe fatigue. But when it comes down to it, digital dating works,” Hinge explained, “Millions of couples have formed, and apps like Hinge have committed to helping people find something real.”

To compile the stories found in IRL, Hinge surveyed more than 2,000 users about their digital dating experiences. And if anyone is going to have a positive online dating experience, it just may be a Hinge user — after all, the app depends on mutual connections to make connections, and now claims to be 25 times more effective than other free swiping apps.

“Love is rare; and digital dating not only increases one’s chances of finding it, it has unexpected upsides as well: friendship, conversation, and the kind of connections that only happen IRL,” writes New York Times bestselling author and “Modern Love” contributor, Deborah Copaken in the book’s foreword. “IRL reminds us that for every tale of woe, there’s an equally compelling love story: tiny rafts of optimism and hope on an oft-roiling dating sea. Hinge not only believes in love, they believe in the quest to find it. If you do, too, read on. These are your stories.”

You can check out a full digital copy here, or order an IRL version of IRL beginning today.

Editors' Recommendations

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Something odd is happening with Samsung’s two new budget phones
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 (left) and Galaxy A55 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A55 for almost two weeks and have now swapped my SIM card over to the Samsung Galaxy A35. These are the latest entries in Samsung's budget-minded Galaxy-A series. In all honestly, I can barely tell the difference between them.

Read more
Learn 14 languages: Get $449 off a lifetime subscription to Babbel
A person using the Babbel app on their smartphone.

Learning a new language no longer requires you to make time for formal classes because there are now several language learning apps that you can tap. One of them is Babbel, and you can currently get a lifetime subscription to the online learning platform for only $150 from StackSocial. That's $449 off its original price of $599, but we don't know how much time is remaining before the offer expires. If you want to take advantage of the 74% discount, it's highly recommended that you complete the transaction immediately.

Why you should buy the Babbel lifetime subscription
A lifetime subscription to Babbel not only unlocks the possibility of learning one or two new languages, as the platform encompasses a total of 14 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesia, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian. You'll be learning your new language of choice with lessons that only take 10 minutes to 15 minutes each to complete, so unlike classes with a rigid schedule, you can learn at your own pace and at any time you're free through Babbel. The lessons cover real-life topics, and they use speech recognition technology to help you master pronunciation. You'll then test yourself through personalized review sessions that will help make sure that you retain all the information that's being taught to you.

Read more
This one Apple Fitness feature completely changed how I exercise
Someone holding an iPhone with the Apple Fitness app open, showing the Custom Plans feature.

I have a confession to make: I'm not good at sticking to a workout routine. I love running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training, etc. In the moment of those exercises and in the post-workout euphoria, I feel amazing. But when it comes to waking up early in the morning to do these things before work? Well, that's where I really struggle.

This has been a problem for a while now. I go to bed with the goal of waking up early and going to the gym, but as I groggily open my eyes to snooze the alarm on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I end up falling back asleep. And I've been repeating this over and over and over again.

Read more