Why This Olympian Says Dating Apps Devastate Relationship Commitment

Published: June 23, 2026

Shawn Johnson East And Andrew East — NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 7: Shawn Johnson East and Andrew East promote their new book "The Courage To Commit Nights" at City Winery Nashville on June 7, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carly Mackler/Getty Images)

By Mallory Mattingly

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East and her husband Andrew East, a former NFL player, think that commitment in relationships suffers in the age of dating apps.

“You’re judging a book by its cover immediately in a second,” Shawn said of dating apps on Sadie Robertson Huff’s “WHOA That’s Good” podcast.

“And I think that conditions you to say, ‘Okay, hey, this one’s a little annoying,’ or you know, ‘We did two dates, and I don’t know if we vibe,’ but we just go to the next one, swipe to the next one, and I think you’re missing out on so much where there’s a lot of excitement in the variety of choices. Oh, she was really funny, we had great conversations, she’s like intellectually interesting, but it’s like there’s also so much excitement in the depth,” Andrew emphasized.

“I think moving past that surface level, inch deep, a mile wide, and into the, ‘Hey, we’re going a mile deep.’ It’s like, oh man, that is exciting and meaningful,” he added.

Commitment in a relationship is incredibly important.

“You choose something, and as soon as you choose it, you need to drown out every other option,” Shawn explained. “You need to try to make that the absolute best choice, because we’ve also seen, and we can go down like the faith route of that too, but people who get into a marriage and they constantly, in the back of their head, will say, ‘Well, maybe it’s not the right person,’ and the issue is not then the marriage. It’s the fact that you’re giving yourself an option to get out.”

“And the commitment side of this is like radically saying ‘This is my only choice. Now I need to take this choice, be confident in it and do everything in my power to protect it and make it the best,'” she continued. “And that’s where I think the world is preaching to people. If you’re not happy today, it must be that you chose something wrong, and that’s so false.”

The Easts tackled the topic of commitment in depth in their new book The Courage to Commit: Embrace the Radical Power of Sticking with Something, which became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller last week.

“As a gold medal winning Olympic gymnast and a former NFL pro, husband and wife team Shawn Johnson and Andrew East know a thing or two about committing. And with The Courage to Commit, they’re here to prove just how contrarian committing can be in an age of dopamine-chasing impatience. Through scientific studies and personal stories, Shawn and Andrew show readers why commitment matters, how it works, and the strategies and tactics to get things done — so you can become the type of person who gets that promotion, enjoys a rewarding marriage, and achieves that long-held dream. In short, so you can move beyond fear and find the freedom, meaning, and joy we all crave,” a part of the book’s synopsis reads.

True fulfillment and meaning — both in marriage and in achieving long-held dreams — come not from the superficial variety of endless choices, but from the radical courage to stay committed and go a mile deep.

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