How young generation is finding love online

Apr 19, 2021, 08:45 am

AsiaToday reporters Lim Yoo-jin & Kim Hyun-goo & Woo Sung-min

A 32-year-old single ‘A’, who says that his ideal type is a kind and pretty woman, joined a dating app last year for a serious rlationship. He was shocked to see his friend ‘B’ tying the knot in less than a year after dating someone he met on a dating app.

‘B’ strongly recommended ‘A’ the dating app, saying, “A dating app allows you to meet a wide variety of partners without spending a lot of time, if you only have the will to meet someone. Dating apps are the best for dating practice because they allow you to meet people regardless of your relationship with the host.”

Pursued by ‘B’, Mr. A found that there were more than 20 dating apps with different ways to use them. Some apps find your potential partner through a criteria search. Others match you on your favorite interests or ideal type. Some apps give you ‘free hearts’ when you rate participants’ faces.

“A woman, whose profile photo was charming, gave me five stars and clicked the Like button. Excited, she and I shared text messages for a week and became like lovers. But when I actually met her offline, I found that she looked like Hagrid from Harry Potter. I almost cried at home,” A said.

“I met seven women through the dating app this year, but none of them led to real romantic relationship,” he said. “There were many women who used selfies with too much photoshop. There was even a married woman who said she was a single.”

“I couldn’t get to meet my soulmate, but I came to realize what my ideal type was and the relationship I was seeking for. One of my wishes is to see cherry blossoms with my girlfriend on a spring rainy day. Next year, I hope to meet someone to see cherry blossoms together,” A said.

The MZ generation – those born between the 1980s and the early 2000s as a combination of millennials and Generation Z – are increasingly looking for social dating apps. Experts say young people tend to prefer social dating apps as they can meet a wide variety of partners without complicated face-to-face communication amid widespread use of smartphones. The fact that you can immediately check other’s reaction and related information anytime, anywhere is also attracting young people.

“The MZ generation prefer dating apps because they allow you to meet your potential ideal type without meeting a matchmaker or physical restrictions such as time and space,” said Kwak Geum-joo, a professor of psychology at Seoul National University.

“It can be difficult for young people, who are busy spending a great deal of time preparing for the job market and self-development, to meet other people because it takes time and money,” said Lee Dong-gwi, a professor at Yonsei University. “Dating apps are useful for digitally-fluent MZ generation to meet various people amid the pandemic.”

Experts point out that some dating apps encourage classification of users and cause sense of incongruity by restricting users based on their education background, residence and economic capacity. “It is an incestuous business. Human relationships are clearly filtered in real life, too,” said Kim Ji-ho, a professor of psychology at Kyungpook National University.

#MZ generation #dating app