Generation Z Is Ditching Dating Apps. So Where Do They Get Dates?

Members of Generation Z are 15% less likely to meet their dates on dating apps. Instead, they’ve turned to friends, work, and real-life events to find love.

I’ve been telling folks to quit using dating apps so darn much for a long time.

Older folks have stubbornly ignored this advice. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks! 74% of dating app users are ages 30+. When you consider the fact that the average American is married by age 30, that’s a whole lotta divorcés, lifelong bachelors, and spinsters on these apps… and not very many young & singles by comparison.

The prime demographic for dating apps is less and less interested.

Partly, that is because Generation Z has been abandoning dating apps in droves.

As Time Magazine aptly notes

Given that Gen-Z currently includes 18 to 27 year olds, one would assume they would be prime candidates for the swipe-and-match of dating apps. But that’s not the case. Despite the growing trend of dating apps being where people go to find partners in the U.S., Gen-Z seems to be opting out.

The New York Times reports that “the two largest dating-app companies are facing serious problems with younger users.” It lists reasons given by Gen Zers on TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram such as:

• Swiping feeling too transactional & unnatural
• Distrust in profit-oriented dating companies
• Being sick of fake profiles on apps
• Disinterest in hookup culture
• Better ways to meet people (& for free) exist

“In my opinion, dating apps are for people who are kind of desperate for something,” the Times quotes 28-year-old schoolteacher Alexa Valavicius as saying. Remember in 2015 when everybody said online dating was no longer for desperate people – it had gone mainstream? Well the ol’ ‘desperation reputation’ has begun to creep back in!

The author of the Times article, Gina Cherelus, notes she “realized that being on the apps gave the illusion that I was putting effort into my dating life, when really I was spending a couple hours a week swiping for 30 minutes and calling it a day. And my self-confidence was taking a hit.” She continues

Surprisingly, I find that my dating life is more active since giving up the apps in the fall of 2022. Knowing that I’ve eliminated them as an option to meet people has made me more inclined to engage in conversation with a stranger at a cafe, bookshop or house party.

In other words, ditching dating apps made her more social, and more open to men’s approaches.

Fortune reported on Bumble slashing 1/3 of its workforce in late 2024. The article paraphrases a research analyst as saying, “The redesign of the app has seemingly not been enough to court younger users.” Bumble lost $40 billion in market share value between 2021 and 2024.

But if Generation Z is flocking off the dating apps, where are they going now to look for love (or flings)?