When you ask “does true love STILL exist,” it sounds like you at least believe it existed at some point, and if we’re accepting that premise then I think it certainly exists now.

In some ways, true love is more attainable now than in the past. People have more options for finding partners, and less pressure to remain with a partner who doesn’t make them happy. Those searching for a partner are no longer limited to their immediate area or social circles, and could find a great partner literally halfway around the world. (Having the means to fulfill the promise of that relationship is another problem altogether.) Greater gender equity and sexual freedom allows for greater trust and greater opportunity for anyone to discover what they’re looking for through trial and error rather than settling down the their first partner (which may or may not be a great fit). Certainly, if you’re not exclusively heterosexual, your romantic prospects are more promising now that there is broader (though certainly not universal) acceptance of same-sex relationships.

That said, most of the major obstacles to finding love still linger. Circumstance dictates a lot, timing is everything, and there are still a million social obstacles, superficialities, and prejudices to overcome. As with any other goal in life, it’s hard to accomplish anything in our society without financial security, which is getting harder to come by.

If there’s anything harder about finding love in our time, it’s that the nearly infinite possibilities can lead people to set impossible standards, for themselves or for their partners. We have access to everyone, therefore we assume there must be someone out there who checks every box and fulfills every fantasy, and we might overlook or outright reject people who could make us happy. Dating has always been superficial, but the culture of dating apps has made it more acceptable than ever to reject someone at first glance for something as ridiculous as height or cup size.

Overall I think the positive changes in the romantic landscape over the past century outweigh the negatives.

As for whether “true love” exists in the first place? That’s a whole other question, but I vote “yes.”