What Will Be the Future of Dating?

¶ … future of dating: What will dating look like in 2035? Not so many years ago, the modern online environment of dating would have been incomprehensible: today, people can meet virtually, decide they have common interests and then arrange a meeting even if they have never met face-to-face and do not live in the same location. Some people merely meet online via message boards and other Internet sites not specifically designed to match up potential mates. Others gravitate specifically to online dating services.

"Online dating sites…rely on algorithms, those often proprietary mathematical equations and processes which make it possible to perform computational feats beyond the reach of the naked brain" (Paumgarten 1). Online dating sites purport to take at least some of the guesswork out of conventional dating and thus make it easier to meet people. There are also services such as J-Date which specifically connect people who have a specific criteria for whom they date, such as Jewishness.

Even if users do not fully believe in or trust in the formula, they hope it is a better way to meet a mate than simply hanging out at a bar or hoping someone nice and new simply 'turns up' in their circle of mutual acquaintances. However, online matchmaking is not the only trend which has arisen in recent years. The increasingly compressed time schedules of people have contributed to the phenomenon of 'speed dating,' in which people rapidly meet one another for short, five-minute conversations.

And perhaps the popularity of both speed and online dating highlights the future of matchmaking: people are postponing marriage and as a result must find ways to meet others in a manner that fits into their busy schedules. Both women and men are less inclined to marry their high school or even their college sweethearts than in the past.

Even if they have done so, the availability of divorce makes the need to find someone later in life more common than in the past Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher "identified two big social trends that have led to a greater reliance on online dating: an aging population, and women around the world entering the workforce, marrying later, divorcing more, moving from place to place" (Paumgarten 1).

The lack of time generated by increased work hours and more compressed schedules due to commuting, children's activities, and also adult's own hobbies means that online dating and the phenomenon of speed dating is unlikely to go away. Moreover, as the majority of people spend more and more time in front of a screen on a daily basis, any stigmatization once attached to online dating has ebbed away over time. But perhaps the most obvious place to look for where the future lies is amongst twentysomethings.

The rise of Tinder and Grinder suggest that meaningful relationships are often less important than hooking up. Regarding Tinder: "it's the simplest dating app there is: In most instances, a user merely sees a photo of a potential mate and either swipes left ('No thanks') or right ('I'm interested'). If both people swipe right, 'It's a match!' And the users can message each other" (Grigoriadis 1).

As people come to approach meeting dates online in such an easy fashion, much in the way they order a pizza or shoes, traditional dating will become less popular. Amongst teens, even the idea of finding a date for the prom, versus going in a group with friends, is seen.