I think this may be a little overblown. "Gurus" offering the magic solution to teenage boys/young adults to get girls to notice them have been around for decades. A lot of these kids will grow out of it once they realise it doesn't actually work, and the "trick" is to just be understanding and empathetic.

That being said, I've got a friend in their early 20s and her dating experiences do seem to reflect this sort of thing, seems like at least 60% of guys on dating apps fall for this bullshit. Though it could be survivorship bias, they are gross creeps, so they don't get a girlfriend and thus remain on the app much longer than the guys who aren't total creeps.