How Coronavirus Is Changing the Dating Game for the Better
Posted on May 8, 2020
NEW YORK TIMES – May 7 – According to Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist & Match.com's chief science adviser, coronavirus has given us a gift. The pandemic is changing the courtship process in some positive ways. It has slowed things down. This pandemic has forced singles to return to more traditional wooing: getting to know someone before the kissing starts. Video chats are in. During the second weekend of April, Match asked its 6K members how they've changed their courtship habits since the world shut down. Before Covid-19, only 6% of respondents were using video chatting. Now, 69% are open to it. Before this virus hit, some 34% of American singles had engaged in sex before an "official" first date. That's over – at least for now. Money is off the table, too. On an in-person date, singles must negotiate who pays. These money negotiations are history. With the coronavirus lockdowns, many of singles now have more time and more time to talk. Chitchat and small talk have become far less relevant. Singles are now likely to share far more meaningful thoughts of fear and hope. This virus is probably delaying matrimony, too. Another plus. The later you wed, the more likely you are to remain married. A study of ~3K married people in the US found that, compared with those who dated less than a year, couples who dated for one to two years before wedding were 20% less likely to divorce. Couples who dated for three or more years before marrying were 39% less likely to break up.
