Just ask anyone that’s single today how the pandemic has drastically changed carefree flings, late night bar hopping and multi-dating. Long lines and overwhelming crowds are rare these days, and socially distanced dating and video dating is here to stay. According to Match.com only about 6% of daters were connecting via video pre-pandemic, and according to the site’s tenth annual “Singles in America” study (released October 2020), video chatting is in!
70% of respondents have reportedly opened their mind to video dates.
Philadelphia event guru Gus Calabrese, also known as The Events Guy, says the days of planning and hosting large scale events are gone. “Before the pandemic we were hosting events for 750 to 1000 people…beer fests, food and restaurant events and singles parties kept us very busy,” says Calabrese, who has transformed his in person events business to a hybrid events platform for professional women and corporations.
Most of us attending virtual events want to feel as connected as we would at an in person event. And, now that so many events are hybrid or fully virtual, singles have an opportunity to meet people they would not otherwise meet, according to Zach Schleien, founder of Getfilteroff.com. “I actually met the woman I am currently seeing at one of our video dating events, ” says Schleien. “We are helping people to create and organize video dates around the world and we are providing singles with 3 matches after they attend one of our video events.
Schleien, who also created a custom algorithm to match singles based on their list of personal preferences, says Getfilteroff.com is hosting singles video events for the Jewish Federation, the JCC and other Jewish organizations.
In an era of swiping, liking, sending emojis and GIFs instead of actual sentences, when singles are curating their online profiles more than their résumés, social distancing doesn’t have to mean isolation.
Though most would say that meeting a potential love interest in person is definitely better than meeting online, video dating doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. So what are you waiting for? It may be time to give your dating life a new vision of love.
Listen to Diana Pivenshteyn and I tonight from from 7:00PM -8:00PM on Jewish Singles Radio – WWDB 860AM / WFAN 97.5 HD2
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