I don't know a single person who is using dating apps and is happier for it. Occasionally people get lucky, but that definitely is not the rule. I know this because I attend lots of meetups and speed dating events. There is a bias there but, even outside those circles, dating apps have an astonishingly poor reputation. If anything, their use probably correlated with generalized unhappiness and a lack of fulfillment.

Granted, I don't think dating apps are the very root of the problem, but they have certainly done a lot to damage how people get together.

As far as technology allowing people to make friends, I sometimes see that happen, but I think friend-making technologies are more of a response to a symptom than an actual enhancement of human friendship dynamics.

From what I have observed, many people today are hesitant to establish friendships, accept others despite minor differences, and make an effort to maintain a friendship, or even just allyship. Modern life is so comfortable and easy, even for many of those not in the upper eschelons of society, that people are constantly weighing the pros and cons of interacting with other people. When merely staying at home is so comfortable, people are always deciding whether to just stay home and be tittilated by home entertainment and a fridge full of food. In other words, when life is too good, human interaction is treated more and more like a transaction.

Many people also don't know how to make connections in adulthood even when they are using assistive technologies. I was talking to a fellow Meetup.com organizer yesterday, and he told he thought it was remarkable how almost nobody seems to trade contact info at the end of an event despite everything having gone rather well. I myself didn't discover the magic of simply asking to exchange numbers until I was in my 30s. While very few people make the initiation, virtually everyone is willing to give out a number. No one has ever told me no, besides women I tried to ask out in my early 20s.

So yes, I think you are right that even if tech facilitated more interactions (which I am still skeptical of), that doesn't mean the majority of those interactions are leading to anything. The fact the author of this paper cites romance as being made easier by tech makes me very suspicious as to whether they know what they're talking about.