Now here’s something interesting.
Single people are ditching apps to – gasp – actually go out and meet other single people in person!
Instead of swiping they are talking. Mingling rather than hiding behind a smartphone.
Speed dating events are back, accounting for a large part of this relationship-seeking interaction. Tho to be fair, when it comes to singles the word “relationship” could mean several things. There is need to explain that here. Regardless, a 2023 study by Eventbrite found that speed dating was up 64% as compared to the previous year. A KCBS TV reporter in Los Angeles went to one and interviewed a few people at it.
“It goes straight to the point a lot quicker than the apps,” one participant said. That was his third speed dating event and said has ditched the dating apps. He must not be doing too well as those speed dating events if it’s his third one, but at least here’s out there giving it the ‘ol college try.
Speed dating was briefly a “thing” about 20 years ago but now it’s causing people to tip-toe back into the singles meeting scene.
Personally, I never found those things really beneficial. You basically have a minute to sell yourself and sometimes you have to talk to a person that would – to put it mildly – be better suited to converse with if you were at the bar slamming tequila shots. I quickly concluded that they were for people without great personalities who could otherwise not meet anyone in a regular bar setting. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, I left it early to go to a bar.
Now as anyone who knows me can tell you, I never found swiping on dating apps to be very personable, either, so I consider speed dating a much better way for people to connect.
The next step after speed dating is for people to get back in the bars to do what single people do best: go on the hunt to meet other single people while fueled up on alcohol and shots of “liquid courage.” Actually, that’s something that is still prevalent in the single society, tho it’s mainly 20s-somethings while 30-somethings and older have been hiding behind those dating apps.
Apparently, tho, not so much anymore.
Cheers!