SELFHOOD on: Dating apps

by Kyra Clement

Photo by Shingi Rice on Unsplash

You’d think a worldwide pandemic would have sent an industry based on facilitating face-to-face connections to an early grave. Instead, much like Covid-19 itself, they’ve grown and taken on a new form.

While Gen Z have become disillusioned with apps like Tinder and Grindr (with both being listed in the top 10 apps that make users unhappy), a new wave of dating apps are attempting to overthrow these industry whales by taking cues from TikTok and Gen Z.

TikTok has Gen Z in a choke hold. Its constant stream of catchy short-form videos have helped to differentiate the app from other social platforms and not only do Gen Z turn to the app for entertainment, but also for connection and authenticity. Distinct from its older Millennial cousin, Instagram, which is plagued with “stunting” and “flexing”, TikTok’s less curated feel makes users more comfortable with expressing their true selves.

With connection and authenticity being among the many qualities we look for in a romantic partner, it’s perhaps no surprise that TikTok has been the inspiration for a number of these new dating apps.

In fact, Kimberly Kaplan, CEO of innovative dating app ‘Snack’ claims to have had the idea while scrolling through TikTok. Snack, a kind of ‘Tinder meets TikTok’ app, requires users to upload short videos in lieu of a bio and allows them to add stories that can be viewed later.

Making the app a place that feels native to Gen Z is a smart strategy for winning over a difficult-to-please generation.

Most online daters admit to being on apps due to necessity and migrating over to more casual social platforms as soon as they get the chance. For example, SELFHOOD collective member, Lucy, 24,  explains “I hate talking on Hinge, I barely reply to messages from my matches. Ideally I’ll try to move the convo over to Insta if I can”.

More than anything, Gen Z are tired of fruitless scrolling and empty matches. SELFHOOD collective member Michael, 24, admitted “I most definitely used dating apps as an ego boost and nothing more. It feels good getting likes in the moment but afterwards just feels like a fat waste of time”.  It’s clear that these short-term dopamine hits from matches are failing to compensate for a lack of meaningful connection.

In response, an emerging group of start-up dating apps are positioning themselves against the shallow aesthetic-based matches that have defined the category, focusing on helping their users find more meaningful connections through music (The Power Of Music), video (The Sauce) or even your Myers-Briggs personality type (So Synced).   

Now that restrictions have been lifted in most parts of the world, these start-ups will face a new, and possibly more daunting reality check: can they survive the post-pandemic summer? Those prioritising IRL events (Thursday) are already ahead of the game here, and props to them.

With Gen Z craving genuine connections more than ever after two years of limited interaction, it’s clear that a much-needed dating app revolution is upon us.