What's happening to dating??

FEELS LIKE DATING A MASSIVE SHIFT RIGHT NOW WITH THE LINES GETTING MORE AND MORE BLURRED BETWEEN DATING APPS AND OTHER APP. NOT A CONSUMER EXCLUSIVELY INVEST IN BUT I CAME ACROSS TWO THINGS REALLY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. BUSINESS INSIDER DOW JONES -0.11% NASDAQ -0.07% S&P 500 -0.06% AAPL -0.09% NVDA +0.01% MSFT MEDIA Buckle up: Partiful is the new Tinder By Sydney Bradley + Follow FIRST, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT PARTYFUL IS RELEASING A NEW FEATURE CALLED CRUSH. INTRODUCING Crush Pick someone as your crush and see if the sparks fly. SB + ? You Your Crush They'll never know unless they crush you back. Pick someone RSVP P'S OF GUEST LISTS AND IF THEY THEY HAVE A THEY CAN MARK THEM AS THEIR CRUSH. IS A MATCH IS REVEALED TO BOTH PARTIES AND IF THERE ISN'T THEN NO HARM, NO FOUL. IT LOGIC AS DATING APPS, JUST WITHOUT SWIPING. EARLIER TODAY I CAME ACROSS THIS #OPENTOSWIPE Dating Apps And Linkedin Are Starting To Blur At The Edges Google Search Volume, US [Monthly, indexed so 100 = max] charts Source: Google Trends | Data as of Dec 2025 IN THE PAST YEAR, SEARCH VOLUME OF LINKEDIN FOR DATING HAS JUMPED BY MORE THAN 8X. AND THIS GRAPH PEOPLE ARE USING DATING APPS TO FIND WORK HOW MUCH TIME SPEND FOR ROMANTIC PURPOSES IS OBVIOUSLY REALLY, REALLY DIFFICULT, SO THE DATA HERE SURVEY OF OVER 500 PEOPLE WHERE FOLKS WHO WERE BETWEEN AGES OF 20 AND 40 WERE ASKED IF THEY HAVE GONE THROUGH SOME SORT OF NETWORKING PLATFORM LIKE LINKEDIN AND 52% Have Arranged a Date on a Networking Platform 52% SAID YEAH. OBVIOUSLY SEEN THE LONELINESS EPIDEMIC CONTINUE TO RISE AND THERE'S A LOT OF COMMENTARY LOSS OF THIRD SPACES AND JUST THE DIGITIZATION OF A WORK FLOWS CONTINUE TO MAKE THIS A MASSIVE ISSUE. LOT OF STATISTICS GEN Z IS NOT EVEN HAVING NEWS ARTICLE Nearly Half of Gen Z Adults Have Never Had Sex-Report EX AS OTHER GENERATION. SO THIS ERA OF SYNTHETIC ENGAGEMENT IS CLEARLY PUSHING PEOPLE AND CREATING AN EAGERNESS TO FIND ALTERNATIVES TO THE SYSTEM THAT'S REALLY BROKEN. SO SAD IS NIGHT I WAS YORK CITY HAVING DINNER, AND I HEARD BEHIND ME OFFER TO BUY A WOMAN A DRINK. AND I REMEMBER THINKING THAT THAT WAS SO UNUSUAL, AND I HADN'T HEARD ANYONE ACTUALLY GO UP TO SOMEONE AND OFFER TO OR CHAT THEM UP. FEELS LIKE WE INCREASINGLY GO BE ON OUR PHONES OR STAY IN OUR LITTLE PODS. LOT OF SOCIALIZATION HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE. WHILE THIS IS MY PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE, I DO THINK THAT PAYING ATTENTION IS REALLY FASCINATING. AND WILL INEVITABLY HAVE HUGE SECOND AND THIRD ORDER EFFECTS THAT WILL ALSO TO B WORLD.