This article was published on April 20th, 2019
Pete Buttigieg is all over the media in recent weeks. As the first real millennial presidential candidate in the United States, he’s educated, formidable, and happens to be a married gay man. Like many millennials, he just so happened to have met his husband on the dating app, Hinge. Buttigieg would be the first gay man in the White House and first to have met their spouse on a dating app.
Pretty progressive, right? We couldn’t help but wonder: when looking for love, is online dating the new norm, even for the President of the United States?
You might be surprised to know, but many it’s becoming increasingly more common to meet someone on a dating app versus not. Half of all people think finding love online is possible. In fact, a recently published survey from comparethemarket.com published a lot of juicy and surprising new looks into gayting in the millennial age.
Just like regular dating and relationships, and everything in between, dating in 2019 can have as many drawbacks as it can bonuses. People complained about fake profiles and dishonesty about their stats. Unsolicited photos and messages can be sent. Bad dates, pick-up lines, and a lack of a connection or emotion, were common themes throughout the survey responses. Nearly 60% of those surveyed said they’d been on a bad online date, even. These reveals are more common than you’d think.
What is shocking is the optimism that seemed to be coming from those surveyed about the possibility of finding love and a relationship. 75% of those surveyed disagreed with that the idea that dating apps are hurting people’s ability to love. Every other Grindr user thinks they’ll find love online. The most optimistic age range of gays hoping to find a digital romance and 25-34 year-olds. Dating apps attached to a cause or interest like religion, art, or music have a higher rate of believing that online love is possible.
Not surprising, Grindr remains the largest platform guys are using to connect with other guys, including romantically and platonically, even though 1 in every 4 people have been stood up off the app. Tinder had the worst rate of success with more people being stood up or experiencing boring or bad first dates than any other dating app, and fewer of its users believed in finding true love than sites like Planet Romeo and OkCupid.
All of this might not mean much, but it is a positive thing that there are those there not only still looking for love, but those that still believe in it enough to think they will find it over the internet. Bless their hearts. Keep an open mind when it comes to love and relationships: you never know where the person of your dreams will end up entering your life from.
