Modern love: The popularity of dating apps is fast-rising among mid-lifers and boomers looking for love, sex and relationships.
A couple of months after his marriage ended, Ian Howarth signed up with an online dating app. But online dating was like learning a new language for the dad who was single again after 28 years. Howarth duly uploaded his profile to Bumble via Facebook, which the app allows.
Eventually, Howarth got the wording right to indicate he was interested in a more settled relationship. Not long after he rewrote his profile, he met his current partner, who lives in another part of Auckland. They moved in very different social circles. He says they would have been very unlikely to have met without the help of a dating app.
Bumble, founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, one of the original partners in Tinder, will turn 10 in December next year. In , more than one billion matches were struck through Bumble, and more than On Bumble, the woman has to make the first move. What is rising, too, is the popularity of dating apps among mid-lifers and boomers looking for love, sex and relationships.
But as divorcees, widows, widowers and singles write profiles and upload photos, there are some issues of concern. One is safety, especially for women. Another is learning new dating cues β how to cope with being cold-shouldered by a potential date ghosting and how to adapt to setting up a date via swipes, clicks and messages rather than the once-traditional ways of meeting someone through mutual connections, at work or in a bar.
