Do Naija millennials use dating apps?
Do they rely on having a relationship using dating apps?
Whether here or abroad, there are similarities that cannot be ignored.
The first time I tried online dating, I ended up standing in a bush outside a pub window, watching my date text me to ask where I was.
“Five mins, sorry!” I typed back with shaky fingers, branches poking into my shins. He glanced up suddenly and I ducked. Perhaps if I stayed in the bush long enough, I too could become an herbaceous border, safe from the pains of human existence. Like dating through a screen.
Half a decade later, I like to think I’ve become less petrified at the thought of sitting opposite someone and making small talk for a few hours. But in the interim, the dating scene seems to have undergone a crisis of confidence. What’s to blame? Apps.
A new YouGov survey – of primarily heterosexual people – commissioned by BBC Newsbeat, has revealed a serious schism in the way UK millennials want to meet a partner, compared to how they’re actually going about it. Dating apps, it emerges, are the least preferred way to meet someone to go on a date with (meeting someone at work trailed in at second place). Swiping fatigue levels were at their highest among women, too. Nearly half of those surveyed placed Tinder and co at the bottom when it came to their ideal manner of locating Prince Charming-Enough.
So people don’t like the idea of beginning their romantic journey by flicking through a catalogue of infinite options that suggests everyone is replaceable. Fair enough. What makes the results fascinating is that – despite this finding – 53% of 25- to 34-year-olds said they do use apps in the search for a partner. Read more