When Love Becomes a Marketplace: How Dating Apps, Hookup Culture, and Algorithmic Desire Are Reshaping Men, Women, and the Future of Society
What happens when the most intimate dimension of human existence becomes a marketplace?
Dating apps promised connection, freedom, and unlimited choice. Yet beneath the language of empowerment lies a deeper question: what happens when desire becomes data, attraction becomes an algorithm, and human beings become profiles competing for visibility?
In this episode, Dr Elena Carruba explores the transformation of intimacy into a market economy governed by attention, novelty, and instant gratification. Drawing upon psychology, sociology, philosophy, evolutionary theory, literature, and contemporary research, this conversation examines the rise of hookup culture, the decline of commitment, the emotional costs borne by women and men, and the wider consequences for families, leadership, and civilization itself.
This is not an argument against freedom, sexuality, or technological innovation.
It is an investigation into whether algorithmic systems are quietly reshaping human behaviour in ways that undermine trust, emotional security, and long-term flourishing.
We explore:
• Why dating apps function as attention economies rather than relationship economies
• The psychological effects of endless choice and comparison
• The emotional exhaustion reported by many women navigating digital dating spaces
• Why many men are struggling with purpose, commitment, and relational development
• The impact of hookup culture on family formation and social cohesion
• What thinkers from Aristotle to Erich Fromm can teach us about love in the digital age
• How Emotional Ethical Intelligence (EEQ), Artificial Intelligence Quotient (AIQ), and Social Sustainable Intelligence (SSQ) can help rebuild authentic human connection
This conversation is for anyone who believes that love is more than a transaction, relationships are more than entertainment, and human beings deserve better than becoming products in an algorithmic marketplace.
Books by Dr Elena Carruba
📚 AIQ-Savvy & EQ-Shrewd Vanguard Leader
📚 Transformative Leadership or Emotional Alchemists
📚 The Immigrant Manifesto
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