Why young people use dating apps to find friends with no benefits

Key points to remember

1. People felt lonely during the lockdown.

In a recent survey of more than 300 Gen Z aged 16 to 24 in the United States, 35% said they had used dating apps to make platonic friends in the past 12 months, according to OnePulse, a consumer analytics app and web portal, which conducted the survey for the Wall Street Journal. Almost 27% said they used dating apps to make friends because they felt locked out on their own. More women than men (39% vs. 29%) said they used dating apps to make platonic friends.

2. Apps embrace the friends zone.

Bumble has seen increasing interest in its friend finder option, Bumble BFF, over the past year, said Tariq Shaukat, president of Bumble. In the first three months of 2021, the average time spent on Bumble BFF increased by 44% for women and 83% for men. Likewise, after noticing a spike in the use of Tinder’s Passport feature, which allows chatting with users anywhere in the world rather than locally, Match Group,

who owns Tinder, has made the service free. He also plans to expand his services beyond dating to find friends with his June purchase of South Korean social media company Hyperconnect.

“There is tremendous growth in this area because now we are not just talking about singles,” said Faye Iosotaluno, Director of Strategy for Match Group.

3. Platonic hookups on dating apps can seem more authentic.

While the qualities and interests that friend seekers list on their profiles are in some ways similar to what people look for in romantic partners, they don’t cling to physical appearance or existential questions like wanting. children. They clearly want people to spend time with them and will even announce that they have just moved to a new city and are looking for new friends. For example, when photographer Gaby Deimeke, 26, moved to Austin, Texas from New York with her boyfriend in September, she turned to Bumble’s BFF feature film. She found two good friends, one of whom asked her to photograph her wedding this fall in Spain. “We met from Bumble and now we all have these great life moments together,” Deimeke said.

4. Sometimes these connections turn into romance.

In some cases, friendships formed on dating apps turn into something more. Eager to make new friends in her metro Atlanta area after drifting away from her old friends during the pandemic, Insley Christian Davis downloaded Tinder in early March, on the recommendation of a friend. Ms Davis, a 26-year-old screenwriter and director, managed to click as a friend with a man. The two, both vaccinated, went on hikes together and before she knew it, the romance blossomed. “At the beginning of May, I realized that I really love her,” she says. The two have recently started dating. Ms Davis is still hoping that she can find platonic friends on dating apps.

Read the original article by Ray A. Smith here.