Gen Zers Are Finding New Relationships Here
Finding love on dating apps? Gen Z may be changing that, too! According to Business Insider and a new study from The Survey Center on American Life has found that Gen Zers know – or kinda know – someone before dating them.
Now I’m not mad at this because this is how I used to date (back in the day) before apps were around.
The study found:
- 43% of Gen Zers and younger millennials are in a relationship with someone who was a friend first
- Out of this, 50% of those respondents were women
- 21% of baby boomers said they were friends first with their partner or spouse before dating
- 35% of young people admitted their significant other was a stranger
This may be shocking, but Daniel Cox, the director at the Survey Center on American Life says it shouldn’t be. “This is a monumental shift in how Americans meet their partners. It also represents the most serious repudiation to online-dating culture to date, challenging the idea that young people ignore prospective partners who are stuck in the ‘friend zone.’ And for many women, it makes a lot of sense,” he explains.
Cox also says his team has found three big reasons why Gen Z tends to be more drawn to dating friends then strangers. They are:
- It’s more fun
- Trusting friends is easier than being sure of strangers
- Mutual friends provide greater accountability
Source: Business Insider
