Umm, So A New Study Shows That Couples Are Meeting Online More Than Any Other Way

Send this to your mom.

Remember in 2012, when you'd tell your friends that you were on a dating app, and they'd look at you as if you had paid a matchmaker à la Mulan?

Disney

Well, shame yourself no more! A new Stanford study shows that, whether your mom understands Tinder or not, people are meeting their partners via online dating way more than they are via mutual friends.

Comedy Central

Look at that exponential red curve!

web.stanford.edu

Math* rules.

*If you're interested in the methodology used to derive the data, here's what the footnote says: "HCMST 2009 and 2017 were internet surveys, conducted by survey firm GfK (formerly Knowledge Networks), using subjects who were regular survey subjects in an established panel. Subjects were recruited into the GfK panel by random digit dialing, and by address based sampling. Subjects who did not have Internet access at home were given Internet access and a device with which to answer regular surveys."

The rise and destigmatization of online dating is especially cool because the larger dating pool afforded by apps rewards people who are "searching for something unusual or hard‐to‐find." And when it comes to dating, aren't we all kind of doing that?

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This is even more important for folks in the LGBTQ community, who don't have the privilege of being able to assume anyone they meet in real life identifies as heterosexual.

It might also mean that people are leaning in closer to their own preferences, and relying less on intermediary friends and family to vet their potential partners.

Derek Thompson @DKThomp

From the conclusion: "Internet dating has displaced friends and family from their former roles as key intermediaries in the formation of new unions." We used to rely on intimates to screen our future partners. Today, that's work we do ourselves.

03:35 PM - 12 Jul 2019

Good for people who might not want to share their sexual preferences with their family or friends, AND good for your own reclamation of personal decisions.

Of course, as anyone who's been catfished might tell you, online dating is NOT perfect. People very often exaggerate their good qualities.

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Even more tragically, many perfectly dateable people will suck at taking selfies or writing a solid bio. Online or not, insecurities will always abound!

People are pretty happy about the study and think it proves something they've already known.

Veronica Cavanaugh @VeronicaCavana4

@DKThomp When you work full time and don't/can't date co-workers, online is super convenient. I wouldn't trust any member of my family to screen anyone for me. I'm 15 years ridiculously happily married thanks to online dating!

05:38 PM - 12 Jul 2019

Some think it was pretty obvious.

lurker1984 @lurker19841

@DKThomp @StefanMolyneux Weird, but not surprising. I don't even find it alarming tbh.

05:45 PM - 12 Jul 2019

Others pointed out a few other pitfalls of online dating that the chart doesn't show.

Nathaniel Turner @nateturner1990

@DKThomp This is sad news for us short men. 80% of women already go after only the top 20% of men on dating apps. From my experience 0% of women go after men under 5'5 on dating apps.

06:34 PM - 12 Jul 2019

Not all women, Nathaniel. Not all women!

Or a few think it's just sad, for whatever reason.

Stuck in cRaZy tOwN @DDnMMBrown

@DKThomp @ezraklein Oh this is fucking sad.

04:02 PM - 12 Jul 2019

Whether you're online dating or not, remember that friends are still important!

Ovation

I won't cite all of them, but exactly one gajillion studies show the importance of community and social relationships in your life. So don't go deprioritizing them!