Abstract

This study offers an auto-netnographic analysis of how love and dating practices are being restructured under the influence of neoliberalism and digitalization, through the lens of mobile dating applications. Centered on the Bumble platform, the research critically examines how the app, while presenting itself as a “feminist” space that empowers women, in practice integrates romantic experiences into market logic through algorithmic guidance, premium membership systems, and strategic self-presentation. Over a four-month period, the researcher actively used the app, matched with users of various gender identities, and analyzed its internal workings from an embedded, firsthand perspective. The study reveals a growing affective regime in which love is commodified, desire is algorithmically directed, and users are constantly compelled to optimize themselves to remain visible, desirable, and “valuable.” Key findings such as the instrumentalization of gender, the search for third-party partners, and fast match–delete cycles indicate that digital dating is not only an individual pursuit but also structurally shaped as a consumable, transient, and strategic experience. Conducted within the Turkish context, this study offers an original contribution by opening up a critical discussion of how love is being reshaped not as an emotional journey but as an algorithmically orchestrated regime in the digital age.