A dating app stories podcast
Just stories, no expectations.
Left on Read is a space for real dating app users to talk about what actually happens out there. The good, the bad and the catfished. No experts, no influencers, no advice you did not ask for. Just people telling the truth about modern dating.
@leftonread_stories
Careen Turner, host and founder of Left on Read.
Meet your host
Hi, I am Careen. I have read the messages too.
Left on Read was created to give dating app users a space for real time conversation. Just stories, no expectations. The podcast shares stories from real users. No expert advice, no influencers charging top dollar to tell you how to do it right when you already are.
What I noticed talking with other users was how similar their stories were, and yet how isolated everyone felt inside that experience. I want these stories shared. I want them to land with someone who needed to hear them.
This is a place where people can talk, connect, laugh at the strange parts and feel a little less alone and a lot more hopeful while using dating apps.
Host
Careen Turner, the voice you hear every episode
Real
Stories from actual dating app users, not actors
You
Anyone can send a story, anonymously if you want
Portfolio
Episodes, in their own words.
Every episode is one conversation with someone who has lived it. Listen right here on the page, open the full view for details, and video versions will appear in the same place as soon as they exist.
The first episodes are being made right now.
Episodes will land here with audio you can play on this page, a written transcript and video when it is ready. If you want the first ones to be good, send in the story only you can tell.
What this show is
A podcast where dating app users talk honestly.
Each episode makes space for listeners to feel heard, connect with people who have been there, and feel less alone in the ups and downs of modern dating.
Real stories, real users
Every episode is someone who has actually been in the group chat, on the app, in the awkward first date. The good, the bad and the catfished.
No experts, no influencers
Nobody here is selling a five step method. No advice you did not ask for, no lecture about what you are doing wrong. You are already doing it.
A conversation, not a monologue
Guests talk, listeners write in, and the words we all invented along the way end up in the glossary. The show grows from what you send.
Less isolated, more hopeful
The stories sound different but they rhyme. Hearing that out loud is the whole point, so the next swipe feels a little less lonely.
Glossary
The words we made up to survive the apps.
Some of these are everywhere. Some were invented on this show or sent in by a listener who needed a word for it. Send yours and it goes on the list.
Benching
You are kept as an option while they see how other things go. You are not rejected, you are on the bench.
Breadcrumbing
Just enough attention to keep you interested and never enough to go anywhere. A like here, a message there, no plans ever.
Catfished
The person you met online is not the person in the photos. Different face, different age, sometimes an entirely invented life.
Cushioning
Keeping a few backup conversations warm in case the main one falls apart.
Ghosting
Someone disappears mid conversation with no explanation. No fight, no goodbye, just silence where a person used to be.
Left on read
Your message was opened, the little receipt says so, and the reply never came. The name of the show and the feeling behind it.
Love bombing
Overwhelming affection very early on. Constant messages, big plans and fast declarations that cool off just as fast.
Paperclipping
Someone resurfaces just often enough to remind you they exist, with no intention of going anywhere with it.
Roaching
Finding out the person you thought you were exclusive with has been seeing several other people the whole time.
Situationship
More than friends, less than a relationship, and nobody wants to be the one who asks what it actually is.
Soft launch
Posting a hand, a shoulder or a shadow of the person you are seeing before you are ready to name them out loud.
Zombieing
Someone who ghosted you comes back months later with a casual hey, as if nothing happened.
Good to know
Questions, answered.
How to send a story, how anonymity works, where to listen and what happens once your story is in. Asked and answered by a person, not a chat bot.
Have a different question?
Send a note. Careen reads every message herself and answers as soon as she can.
Real dating app users talking about their real experiences. The good, the bad and the catfished. It is a conversation, not a lecture, and there is no expert telling you what you did wrong.
Use the form on this page or email leftonreadconnect@gmail.com. Write it out, send a voice note or ask to come on an episode. Whatever is easiest for you works.
Yes. Use a first name, a nickname or nothing at all. Names and identifying details are changed whenever you ask, and nothing airs without your okay.
No. Plenty of stories are shared in writing and read on the episode. Being a guest is an option, never a requirement.
Episodes will play right here on this page as soon as the first ones are out, and listening links for the major podcast apps will be added in the same place.
Yes. Every episode gets a written transcript in its full view, and video episodes will ship with captions when video begins.
No. That is the point. This show shares experiences so people feel heard and less alone. What you do with your own dating life is yours.
Please do. If you and your friends invented a word for something the apps put you through, send it over with your definition and it goes in the glossary.
Submissions and questions
Send a story, a question or a brand new word.
Get in touch
What to send
The story itself, roughly when it happened, which app it started on and how you want to be credited. Screenshots are welcome. Messy first drafts are very welcome.
Your privacy
Nothing is published without your okay. Names and details are changed on request and you can withdraw your story at any time.