Has your Instagram become your dating profile?
By Sanchia Saunders
It could be argued that the dating scene today (especially when it comes to dating in London) is like a depressing, sad fairytale with no happy ending. And before you think I’m just a single bitter girl let me tell you the story as to why - so here goes.
Once upon a time there were the most beautiful set of fish in the sea, swimming beautifully, waiting for their one true love to come and find them (these people were like you and me, known as the singles).
However as time went on, the fish began to disappear until one day there were only a few left - resulting in the singles slowly but surely hanging up their fishing nets and giving up on love all together.
Statistics have even alluded to this idea due to
past reports stating that, one in eight - mostly women - have given up on finding love - due to them not finding the right person to settle down with.
However if we enter back into the real world and out of my sordid fairy tail then I’m here to remind you that the dating scene isn’t all bad… or is it?
As following social media’s abrupt arrival back in
1997 (back in the dinasoar age) where the first recognisable social media site which we know today as Six Degrees, which funnily enough was a platform created to enable users to upload a profile to to make friends online, has since created a multitude of platforms and avenues for people to interact, communicate and connect with one another on a global scale.
The impact of social media
With over 63.9% of the world's population currently being on social media, with the daily average being a minimum of 2hrs and 21 minutes a day, I think it is clear to see that social media is both a very influential and a very large platform.
With there being a number of apps stemming from Instagram to Snapchat to TikTok to X, it could be argued that this generation is spoilt for choice when it comes to interacting with new people online, and building meaningful relationships whether platonic or romantic.
This is because as more and more people lean on social media as a way to express and unload with many people’s accounts being referred to as a digital diary, it wouldn’t sound that crazy if I said social media has become one of the new/ more popular ways for singles (especially Gen Z) to find love.
As with
gen z creating their very own dictionary to describe what dating is like on social media, it presents the question of, has my instagram account become my dating profile ?
Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms on the market to date.
With statistics stating that the current known number of Instagram users is
2 billion monthly users, it is evident that the platform has become a safe space for (most) users to share their lives, their selves, funny videos, memes you name it it all goes down on Instagram.
With the rise of influencers and the need to look good, a lot of users now use their platforms to share idealic/ aesthetic pictures of themselves, abroad, eating out with friends, at the gym to ultimately share their lives with their followers.
However this doesn’t always just have an appeal for your friends and family members who follow you.
Oh no, if your account isn’t on private it opens you up to a whole new world of possibility and connection, a lot of time in a romantic sense, as people start sliding in the DM’s.
What does sliding in the DM’s actually mean ?
So as I mentioned a lot of Gen Z singles have got creative when it comes to explaining their dating experiences online, and one of the terms they have come up with is, sliding in the DM’s.
In
layman's terms this basically means when someone (unexpectedly) drops you a direct message to express interest in you.
Ps. If you do have reservations of how safe this form of dating is, please do head to our page and read our article on,
“How to date safely in London”.
But back to the point at hand, if you combine the jaw dropping pictures the girlies and the guys be posting on their feed, alongside the vast scale of users on Instagram, it’s almost become a dating app - as you post your best pictures - show glimmers of you personality and then wait for the one to come and find you.
A bit like fishing.
Social media vs Dating Apps
With this all being said it poses the question of what type of dater are you ?
As despite social media lending its services to aid singles in the right direction to finding their true love or a quick fling - would you rather go the more traditional route of signing up to a dating app - or would you leave it to fate ?
As at the moment dating apps are in a crisis due to people just not being happy on them.
With recent reports finding that,
52% of online daters said they had come across someone they thought was trying to scam them!!
With a further 57% of saying online dating is not too or not at all safe - and finally 85% of people saying someone continued to contact them after they said they weren’t interested.
So with online dating somewhat being in shambles at the moment if I told you there was a new kid on the block - and what if I told you this new kid was called
Evntful.
If you wish to elevate your dating experience and make dating great again head to our page and check it out!
Credits:
- EVNTFUL - Dating in London: https://www.evntfuldating.com/how-dating-trends-have-changed-over-time
- The Dailymail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3172810/amp/Love-died-one-eight-given-finding-special-Poll-reveals-women-fear-trusting-new-partners-men-worry-not-having-good-job-way-finding-soulmate.html
- Smart Insights: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
- Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media#:~:text=The%20first%20recognizable%20social%20media,make%20friends%20with%20other%20users.
- Evntful - The Gen Z Dating Dictionary: https://www.evntfuldating.com/the-genz-dating-dictionary
- Backlinko: https://backlinko.com/instagram-users
- Later: https://later.com/social-media-glossary/sliding-into-dms/
- Evntful - How to date safely in London: https://www.evntfuldating.com/how-to-date-safely-in-london
- The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/aug/17/dating-apps-decline-bumble-tinder
- EVNTFUL:
https://www.evntfuldating.com
Swipe left on traditional dating apps....
