I have literally been chatting online since the mid 1980s (all the way back to CompuServe's "virtual CB"...), so maybe I have an unfair advantage. But I guess I've always had a very different set of expectations and perspectives on virtual interactions that has made me a much more sanguine consumer of those interactions.
You absolutely get out of those interactions what you put into them. Setting expectations through your profile is the place to start. Say what you're looking for out of the app so that people will know before they message you, or immediately upon your messaging them. If you can't articulate what you're looking for succinctly, maybe you don't know. If your profile reads like a novel, get the fuck off the apps and go to Medium. Then again, that too may set a useful expectation -- this person is a rambling person in need of a therapist. It's a red flag.
Speaking of red flags, you also have to get learn to spot them early and get comfortable with blocking/ignoring quickly at the first sight of them. You also have to make peace with other people doing the same to you. A user of the apps who blocks people in which they have no interest is actually doing you a favor. See it as a positive, not as a reason to get angry. They're not wasting your time, you're not wasting yours either.
But also be aware -- not everyone has great online communication skills. And that can be fine if you don't take those communications short-comings personally. Some of my best friends are lousy online chatters; some of the most interesting online chatters are also some of the worst at in-person interpersonal skills. They're a piece of the puzzle. But again, if you're setting the right expectations, then you shouldn't expect a dissertation on Proust if both of you are clearly just looking for dick.
You also have to keep up your end of the conversation. You learn to suss out who's only looking for dick, who might make a good friend, and who might be relationship material. But you also have to critically assess how you come off online too. The common element in your shitty online interactions may just be you.
But yeah, if you aren't enjoying the apps, don't use them. But don't denigrate those who do. Being on the apps is not a moral failing, but being inappropriately judgmental is. My inappropriate judgment is that if you've got a reflexively negative reaction to the apps, you may not have figured out any of the stuff I lay out above and your bad experiences are thus entirely predictable.
Cheers!