Using dating apps, for better or worse

Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but dating apps remain a permanent tool for many looking to find love, romance or sex. While some find dream dates, others find nightmares.

About 30% of Americans have used dating apps, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center, with 9% using them in the past year. Tinder was the most used app, followed by Match and Bumble.

Overall, 53% of dating app users said their experience was positive, with 10% finding their partner through an app. But 46% said their experience was negative, mainly because they were recipients of unsolicited sexually explicit messages or images or were victims of verbal harassment.

Decision time

With 800,000 video titles available on streaming services, finding something to watch is a tough decision — and the younger you are the longer it takes. According to Nielsen, viewers 18-49 need more than 12 minutes of browsing and searching before they make a streaming decision. Viewers 50-64 find a show in about 9 minutes. Those 65 and over clock in at a relatively speedy 8 minutes.

Hold the phone

When dealing with a company about an order, most customers want to use email or texts, communications platform Intercom has found. As for using the phone, long wait times and innumerable menus make it too exasperating. Intercom also found an increasing acceptance for chatbots, but mainly for answering quick questions like confirming an appointment or delivery or canceling an order.

Schumer: TikTok ban on the table

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a U.S. ban on TikTok is “something that should be looked at,” citing Chinese ownership of the company behind the video-sharing platform. Senate lawmakers recently revived legislation to ban TikTok after a similar measure failed last year. The renewed attempt will likely prompt opposition from the tech lobby and pit lawmakers against millions of mostly young users of the platform. — Bloomberg News