Online and Restless:

Dating is hard. Dating during a pandemic, however, is excruciating. Back in May, two months into lockdown, I found myself newly unemployed, single, and sad. As the timeframe of when things would go back to “normal” got further and further away, I started to wonder: will I ever date again? 

You might be thinking that 2020 is a terrible year to date around, what with social distancing guidelines putting a pause on where you could easily meet new people. But while we look at ways to restructure systems that haven’t worked for us in the past, couldn't we also do the same for our romantic lives? 

I argue that the current pandemic constraints can actually work for us in terms of dating, particularly due to the rise of online dating apps. We live in a digital age where many people are meeting partners online, regardless of a pandemic. I can see opportunities for new and exciting apps coming out to fill the digital-dating niche.

Even before the pandemic, the percentage of adults who meet people online has significantly increased in recent years—and much of this growth can be attributed to the rise of smartphone dating apps like Tinder, Grindr, OKCupid, Hinge, and Bumble. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 30% of American adults had tried online dating in 2019—including 52% of those, external link (external link)  who had never been married—compared to just 13% in 2013, external link (external link) . A 2017 Stanford research study, external link (external link)  even found that 39% of American heterosexual couples had met online—a more commonly-cited manner than traditional alternatives such as introduction by a mutual acquaintance.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of dating app users exploded. Match Group, the parent company which controls 60% of the dating app market, reported a 15% increase in new subscribers over the second quarter of 2020—with a record-breaking 3 billion Tinder swipes the day of March 29.

Fun dating app facts: Bumble now offers a virtual dating badge for your profile if you’re up for a face-to-face convo, while Grindr launched Circles, external link (external link) , which allows 20 users in the same country to group chat!

I understand that dating can feel all-consuming, especially because there’s not much else to do in quarantine, external link (external link) , but this is one of the most interesting twists in terms of our romantic lives. How many love connections that come out of these virtual connections remains to be seen, and I am excited to study this further during my research in the MDM program!