Dating apps are often criticized for reducing romance to a split-second judgment based largely on appearance and bite-sized profile bio details.
Social media user Murray Hill recently tested the idea by using four different dating profiles of the same AI-generated woman, Becky, to see how small changes in looks and personality can affect male attention.
He said his test, which he called the “Becky Experiment,” was to see how “down bad” men have become and how much they are “willing to overlook” to match with a woman on a dating app.
“The fat one is the best option in the lineup,” one user commented.
One user ran a dating app experiment with four different profiles of an AI-generated woman named Becky
Murray Hill, whose social media bio says he’s a personal trainer from New York, shared a tweet on September 14, 2026, saying he was running the “Becky Experiment” to figure out, “How down bad are men in 2026?”
He created four separate dating profiles of an AI-generated 26-year-old woman named Becky, who lives in New York, went to NYU, works in marketing, and is looking for a long-term relationship. But each profile came with a different personality.
Hill labeled the first one “fat and cute,” and her bio said she loves “good food, good drinks, and feeling comfortable in [her] own skin.”
The second one was labeled as “openly awful” and contained several politically charged statements in her bio.
The third one expected more than $500 to be spent on her on the first date and believed “high standards aren’t a bad thing.”
The fourth one’s profile said she still talked to her ex-partner every day: “He’s my best friend and always will be. If you’re threatened by that, it’s not gonna work.”
“Running all 4 for 24 hours to see what men are actually willing to overlook just to get a match,” Hill wrote in his post. “My prediction: We’re cooked.”
He then provided updates on the experiment at the one-hour and three-hour marks.
The creator was surprised to see the “insane” results after 3 hours of the experiment
After one hour, the “fat but cute” profile had 51 likes, the “openly awful and racist” one had 34, the “$500 minimum on first date” profile got 42 likes, and the “talks to her ex every day” profile got 73.
“The ex one being #1 and the $500 date/fat chick beating the racist one is surprising me lol,” Hill wrote. “Men will overlook almost anything on apps… Hope it’s not real life too.”
In the three-hour result, Hill shared that the “openly awful and racist” profile got banned by the platform.
The “talks to her ex every day” profile got the most attention with 184 likes, the “fat but cute” one came second with 137 likes, and “$500 minimum on first date” came third with 119 likes.
“The racist profile getting banned was probably inevitable, lol,” Hill wrote. “But 184 dudes seeing ‘I talk to my ex every day’ and still sending a like is INSANE. Easy smash though, I guess.”
“Number 4 being ahead is pretty alarming,” one netizen reacted to the results. “Suggests a lot more weak and pitiful men around than expected.”
“Openly awful wins this one by 6 million miles,” another said. A third wrote, “Reject all, although the overweight girl is the best option if forced.”
Some weren’t entirely convinced by the experiment, arguing it didn’t truly reflect people’s objectives.
“People aren’t really looking for their future wife/husbands on these apps, are they?” one said. Another wrote, “I could Photoshop any of those chicks into female Shrek, and they’ll still swipe right without even looking.”
But a few found the experiment helpful. One person said, “Expose dating apps for the toxic, fake playground they are, where only women benefit.”
Studies have linked dating app swiping to immense psychological distress
Scientific research has linked the swiping feature on dating apps to serious mental health concerns, including anxiety, compulsiveness, and body image issues.
“Through dating apps as a technology and as a business model, insecurity has been structurally built into modern dating,” Dr. Amir Levine, an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, wrote for Time in April 2026.
“As a clinical psychiatrist, I have personally determined that dating apps can create an environment that accentuates insecurity and may stifle secure relationship building.
Dr. Levine said that even though more than 350 million people worldwide are now using dating apps, studies have found that the platforms are increasingly being associated with greater loneliness and psychological distress.
He pointed to a 2024 study that found that 78% of dating app users felt emotionally exhausted by the experience.
“In this way, dating apps have industrialized uncertainty,” the doctor wrote. “Endless options mean never having to commit fully. Conversations start and stop without explanation. Ghosting is frictionless.”
Critics have also argued that these apps are not designed to help users find and settle with a partner, but rather to keep them single and keep looking, because success would put the apps out of business.
Even a few public figures have spoken up about experiencing the futility of dating apps.
In 2020, Drew Barrymore admitted on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she had been stood up by a date she found on the Raya app and called her experience a “car wreck.”
Later on her own talk show, Barrymore said, “I think it’s safer to decree nothing on a dating app, probably. You’re never gonna win.”
“Most guys just swipe blindly,” one user opined
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