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One Year Later: How Covid-19 Changed Dating
OkCupid data shows how singles have adapted to dating during the pandemic
It’s been nearly a year since the world shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, and lockdown has created lasting impacts on dating and relationships around the world. Since then, we’ve asked our daters questions like ‘Do you think it’s important to have an emotional connection before a physical one?’ and ‘Would you say I love you to someone you’ve never met in person?’ And through our new questions on dating during lockdown, which have been answered more than 18 million times, we found that people are seeking deeper, more meaningful connections more than ever before.
What people are looking for around the world when it comes to dating definitely differs by culture and location, but all daters have one thing in common: they want to discuss the pandemic. Mentions of “coronavirus” on OkCupid profiles increased over 2,200% in February compared to the same time last year. For many, this means prioritizing the safety and wellbeing of themselves and others. Mentions of ‘coronavirus’ on OkCupid profiles increased 32% between March and December of last year, and mentions of ‘vaccine’ increased 137% between November and January 2021.
Women are no longer waiting for someone to message them
Perhaps the biggest trend in online dating that began during the pandemic is young women becoming more active and engaged on their dating apps. Recently, women under 30 on OkCupid sent 28.5% more first messages in January 2021 than they did the same time last year. Without the rush to meet up for a date in-person, women have felt more in control of their dating lives during the pandemic, and therefore have embraced being the one to reach out and set up virtual dates.
“Double-masking, social distancing and vaccinated” is the new “tall, dark, and handsome”
People in the United States who answer “Yes” to our matching question “Will you get the Covid-19 vaccine?” are receiving 20% more Likes and 12% more Matches. (Globally, those who said “Yes” are receiving 13% more Likes and 2.3% more Matches.) And daters are no longer only turning to friends and family for dating advice. They’re also listening to Dr. Fauci. About 20% of Gen Z and Millennial daters are already starting to wear two masks, like Fauci recommended, and those who are double-masking are having more conversations on OkCupid than those who aren’t. There was also a 185% increase in mentions of the word “mask” on OkCupid profiles over the past year, showing that taking precautions during the pandemic is a top priority for singles around the world.
OkCupid daters have been taking the pandemic very seriously. About 4 in 10 people would cancel a date with someone who didn’t want to take the COVID-19 vaccine and 215,000 people would cancel a date with someone who refused to social distance. So if you are not willing to put on a mask during a global pandemic, you’re likely not getting a message back.
Selfies with dogs are cute, but ones with voting stickers are sexy
Coming out of 2021, we also saw the pandemic impacting how people prioritize their match’s political views. Over the years, there has been a shift towards more people being opposed to dating outside their party lines, a trend that was heightened during lockdown. In 2019, 53% of respondents said they could not date someone who has strong political opinions that are the exact opposite of theirs, and this jumped to 61% in 2020 and almost 70% so far in 2021. In fact, the percentage of people on OkCupid saying having similar political beliefs is more important than good sex increased 31.8% in 2020 compared to 2015. So, as lockdown restrictions ease, people will be less concerned about someone’s income or zip code and more about their voting registration and party affiliation.
Long-distance relationships and romance are on the rise, and here to stay
When asked about their post-pandemic plans, daters were 12.4X more likely to say they’d like to find someone special rather than date around. But people aren’t limiting themselves to singles closeby. At the beginning of the pandemic, we encouraged our users to update their location preferences to “anywhere,” a free feature on OkCupid. We found that women were more likely to expand their preferred location to “anywhere” so they can connect across borders. And those people who did saw 5% more conversations than those who didn’t.
Even those who did not expand their location preference to “anywhere” did increase the distance they were willing to travel for love, whether that meant being open to people in other boroughs, cities, states, or even countries. Almost two million people on OkCupid recently said they’re open to long-distance dating, which is why we launched our Passport Stack, which displays daters who fit your preferences, speak a common language with you, and are open to matching with people anywhere in the world.
And people regardless of gender or location are participating in this trend. While women who recently joined OkCupid are 4X more likely to have their location preferences currently set to “Anywhere” compared to men, men are more than twice as likely to “Like” someone who is far away from them than women.
Virtual dating is now a common practice among singles around the world, but singles are nonetheless eager to meet in person. That is why we are seeing daters doing everything they can to get back to normal, like wearing masks, social distancing, and getting the vaccine as soon as they are able to. But until then, 86% of daters are looking forward to in-person dates once the pandemic is behind us, and when that time comes, we’re confident relationships will be stronger than ever.
One Year Later: How Covid-19 Changed Dating was originally published in The OkCupid Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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