By SAMANTHA KIM
The Covid-19 pandemic hit hard with quarantines affecting how young people socialize and work, but Gen-Zers were especially affected when it came to finding love.
For two long years, Gen-Zers have been trying their best to develop relationships, others trying to keep it alive, and some failing to do so during the pandemic. According to an AP-NORC and MTV poll, 40% of Gen Zers said the pandemic made romantic relationships and dating harder. While some in search of love lucked out, others struggled to bring new elements to their relationships and some have joined dating apps during the pandemic.
Reid Christmann, 22, met his girlfriend of two years on Bumble during the peak of COVID.
“I was talking to a few different people at the time, but she just stood out from the rest,” said Christmann. “She opened with a pickup line and I correctly guessed the punchline, which is a good way to start things off apparently.”
During the pandemic, in a study done by Bumble, they reported a 21% increase in messages sent in Seattle, 23% increase in New York City and 26% increase in San Francisco since March 12. The use of in-app video chatting on Bumble increased 93% across the country between March 13 and March 27 with in-app calls and video chats averaging 29 minutes.
On March 23rd, my roommate @MonaghanShelby matched with a guy named Wes on @bumble. They started talking on the phone pretty quickly.
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) April 7, 2020
Strained Relationships
Not all relationships last, and for many, it is due to COVID which has placed too much strain on a couples’ relationships. Quaranting was especially tough for keeping relationship going such as for Rhizamel Dabu, 19, whose love language is physical touch and quality time.
COVID was her two year relationship’s breaking point with her boyfriend. “Lockdown really made me realize that most of my relationship with my ex was based on talks about what we did during the day and actually being with each other,” said Dabu. “There was nothing to do during quarantine, and we couldn’t see each other, so our conversations would be dry or end up becoming fights about little problems we had with each other, so I ended things.”
The New Dating Scene
However, not everyone was able to find love during quarantine. One reason is that the traditional ways of meeting people have been put on pause for nearly two years like for Julia Sims, 22.
“I’m looking for a relationship now,” said Sims. “I never used dating apps before Covid because I liked meeting people organically through places like work, friends and things like that, but obviously things have changed, and I have too.”
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it shows that meeting online is the new main way for heterosexual couples in the United States meet compared to the traditional way of meeting through friends which has been in a decline since 1995. According to the study it found that about 39% of heterosexual couples reported meeting their partner online, compared to 22% in 2009.
What is Your Definition of Love?
Listen to Sims’s response:
Words of Advice
Christmann and his girlfriend are still going strong, Dabu is focusing on improving herself and Sims is excited to see how things go with new people.
“My best advice to people who are looking for a relationship is that it’s okay to be picky, especially on a dating app; I think that’s where you want to be the most picky,” said Christmann. “No one owes you a relationship, but eventually you’ll find someone who also wants one.”
I really enjoyed your story Samantha! I thought it was engaging to read how Gen Zers have been affected when it comes to finding love and I thought your examples were fun and personable to back it up. I thought it was great that you included real people that have used Bumble and what their experience was like. It makes it relatable for the reader. We then see the tweets which makes it engaging to continue reading the article. The audio clip shows a real person takes their experience of what love is. Overall, your story was super fun to read and based on your assets it makes the user experience enjoyable.