Your 'type' is boring. Britain needs to burst this online dating bubble
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Loading... - Cristian Castillo
- 14 Jul 2020
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It was one of the first dating sites to hit our computer screens, and two decades on, the owner of The Match Group - which includes Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder - has announced it will float on the stock market later this year.
This doesn’t just mean the public will be able to buy shares in a billion-dollar industry – it’s proof of just how much tech has changed the dating game.
One in five relationships in the UK are now said to start online, and in America, almost half of the public know someone who uses online dating.
But what’s really interesting is something I spoke about recently at Sky’s Women In Tech event: the huge impact dating apps have had on society and our attempts to find love.
Dating no longer resembles the courting of pre-internet years. Even the idea of a man asking a woman out is archaic. In the online world, there’s nothing remotely remarkable about a woman pursuing a man (or a woman).
Staff at Happn – one of the most popular apps that only allows people to match if they’ve crossed paths geographically – told me their data shows women are just as confident as men when it comes to asking people on dates.
Other apps have capitalised on the feminist zeitgeist, such as Bumble,which puts the onus on the woman by giving her 24 hours to initiate a conversation after she matches with a man. If she chooses not to message him? The match disappears.
Happn allows people to match if they've crossed paths (Happn)
There's also much more of an openness around sex - it's not just that apps make it easier for people to find a quick shag, but that they encourage more experimentation.
But that doesn’t mean they're not picky about who they’re going to do it with.
Dimo Trifonov, the founder of 3nder – an app that helps facilitate threesomes – previously told me that his app’s main users aren’t experienced ‘swingers’. Instead it’s most popular with ‘ordinary’ young couples who want to spice things up without having to lurk around seedy clubs.
His app isn’t the only one contributing to this openness around sex. Website Ashley Madison, which enables affairs, now has one million British users,and a quick look on Tinder shows users no longer have any qualms about stating exactly what kind of sexual play they’re into.
But while there is this growth towards acceptance and openness, we're also experiencing a ‘narrowing down’ when it comes to who we're choosing to date.
Online dating has always allowed people to be specific with what they’re looking for, from height to hobbies, but the abundance of niche apps springing up all around us means it’s easier than ever to find your specific ‘type’.
Happn encourages people to date within their geographic area, The Leagueonly lets people join if they come from elite enough backgrounds, and appLulu even allows women to review men they know, using hashtags such as #AlwaysPays, #RespectWomen and #WearsEdHardy (stay away).
