Social distancing, WFH: City youth turn to dating apps to chase boredom away

Some apps have also clued into this boom, with OkCupid allowing users to customise their preferred mode of communication during the ‘isolation’ period. Others like Bumble are encouraging users to stick to online conversations and avoid meeting their matches in the wake of the COVID-19 upsurge.

For Atshara, who downloaded Bumble on Friday, it is a chance to break the monotony of constantly sitting at home with some engaging chit-chat.

“Tinder is full of creeps, while Bumble is known for better conversation. There is an option to mention what you are looking for so I put in the ‘don’t know yet’, because I really wasn’t looking for anything. I just wanted to talk to different people,” said the 23-year-old.

Many users reiterated that social distancing, with regard to meeting potential partners, is a good thing.

An IT professional using Tinder said, “There’s always this pressure when I use these apps of not just meeting the person but also trying to put up this image of myself. Now, there is no way for us to meet, so it eases things. I am interested in them, but there’s no pressure to be perfect because we’re all stuck at home and bored.” This also can act as a filtering agent, said Cymren Maria, a teacher using OkCupid. “Very rarely does chatting on the app translate into meeting the person. But this is a chance to see if someone can hold a good, interesting conversation.

If this continues for a month there’s a chance of looking at something serious,” she said. A working professional in a publishing house who recently joined Bumble said she joined the app as the social isolation might force people to go old-school and properly court someone before starting a relationship.