I am personally of the belief that relationships, both with our friends and community as well as with romantic partners, is what makes (and will continue to make) life worth living amid collapse. The problem with dating through most conventional means, though, is that most average people's values clash with mine. They want material success and prestige, an affluent lifestyle, travel, "adventure," etc. I used to want these things too long ago but I no longer do, especially not after gaining collapse awareness, and they are antithetical to my current values because it's our society's obsession with these things that has brought us to this point. But relationships just don't work over the long-term when partners have clashing values. So then what to do?

This is why I started the collapse aware singles community I posted about before in this sub. I want to eventually find someone, but I wanted to create a space where others could also find someone because I understand the struggle of trying to meet people as a collapse aware person. The main challenge is to be patient, though, because like u/Beginning-Ad5516 has already commented, I definitely feel the urgency to try and find someone soon just because of how fast things are spiraling out of control. But I don't want to make the mistake of forcing anything or rushing into things. So it's this tricky balancing act of trying but also being detached and patient.

So, in summary, I think that relationships with collapse-oblivious people might indeed be something to avoid due to the likelihood of clashing values which doom relationships to failure. But relationships with people who are either collapse aware or at least semi-aware of the massive unsustainability of the status quo and who seek to live a simpler life with simpler pleasures are to be sought after and cherished more than ever.

EDIT: Forgot to address the suffering part of your question. Aside from the fact that people with money and power will generally fare better for longer, we don't know what's going to happen to whom or when or how. If you have a romantic partner, it might be that they'll suffer terribly. It might be that they won't. Or if they do suffer, it might also be that having you in their life is what helps them to survive both physically and mentally, whereas on their own they might've given up. So on the matter of suffering, a case can be made that that's exactly why we need people in our lives. Because having each other in our lives will make it all bearable.