How the pandemic changed dating
Dating in a pandemic is like playing the world’s worst game of musical chairs, says single Aucklander Seren Powell-Jones.
“We are all just looking for someone to sit down with, so we don’t have to go through another lockdown alone next time Jacinda says the music stops.”
The 27-year-old binned all dating apps after months of locked-down messaging turned out to be foreplay with no main event.
Part of the appeal of single life is its spontaneity. Any night out with friends has the tantalising potential to turn into a one-off encounter that could be a romantic partner, or at least a funny yarn to regale friends with at Sunday brunch.
Like many good things, though, Covid-19 has killed the one-night stand as we knew it.
Alert level and traffic light restrictions have put red tape on the environments where such encounters took place, says Wellington sex educator Emma Hewitt, who works for Adult Toy Megastore.
Kiwi daters are also more tentative now, taking extra time and precautions before meeting, according to surveys by dating app juggernauts Tinder and Bumble.
Other singletons are remaining in “situation-ships” (short-term romantic or sexual relationships that are not specifically defined, or exclusive), or recycling prior sexual partners who they can trust are vaccinated.
Either way, single people are exhausted.
“We don’t have the spontaneity that one-night stands need,” said Powell-Jones, who has fastidiously blogged about her Tinder mis(adventures).
“The first parameter is: What traffic light or alert level are we in? Then: Are you vaccinated? Are your flatmates all right with you having someone around?
“I want to keep myself safe, and the people that I live with safe, so I don't want to sleep with anybody who is taking unnecessary [Covid] risks.”
Of course that did not deter some matches from trying – a handful of blokes asked Powell-Jones to meet them in secret under level 4 restrictions. Read More…
