It isn't just young people who are spending their evenings wistfully swiping left and right on and endless stream of faces – older folks are doing it too, according to new research.
TechCrunch has picked upon a new survey of 2,000 people from Pew Research in the US, which reportedly shows that not only have online dating services grown more popular with 18 to 24-year-olds, but there has been a relatively big spike in the older crowd, too.
An impressive (or worrying) 12% of 55 to 64-year-olds in 2015 reported that they have participated in online dating – way up from just 6% in 2013.
Overall, 15% of American adults now say they have used such services – up from 11% in 2013. There's also been a big increase on mobile online dating – which is now used by 9% of adults, up from 3% just two years prior.
It should be safe to say that we can thank the meteoric growth of Tinder and its imitators for this.
OKStupid?
Of the online daters, 80% apparently agree that it is a good way to meet people – though, 45% also think it is a more dangerous way of meeting people. This figure is, unsurprisingly, polarized by gender: 53% of the women surveyed think online dating is more dangerous, versus just 38% of men.
What will no doubt prove to intrigue sociologists is that there appears to be an education divide.
A majority (58% of those surveyed) of college graduates know someone who dates online, with 46% saying they know someone who has entered a long-term relationship as a result. This compares to just 25% of high school-educated people knowing someone who uses these services, with only 18% knowing someone who has found a long-term relationship in this way.
That would explain why so many post-college transplants in cities like New York and San Francisco turn to apps to navigate a dating world far out of their comfort zone. When you come back home, just be sure to set your filters correctly to avoid seeing mom or dad's profile.
