Cypress College student, Bianca Hernandez, said “When COVID-19 first started it was hard for my boyfriend to see me because his parents wouldn’t allow it. We went weeks without seeing each other. Our only form of communication was through the phone.”
People around the world had this same issue as strict stay at home orders kept people indoors.
“COVID-19 ruined the chances of seeing my girlfriend throughout the whole quarantine lockdown. It was about three months without seeing her and we constantly would fight about it. It was hard only being able to see each other through Facetime but after three long months of being locked up we were finally able to see one another.” said Ricardo Rodriguez, a 20-year-old Cypress College student.
With restaurants, bars, beaches, and what seemed like almost everything closed, online dating skyrocketed. In March 2020, the online dating app Bumble had a 26% increase in number of messages sent on its platform, CNBC reports. Tinder also saw messages rise by 116% over this same time period.
Although online dating apps were already popular before the start of COVID-19, boredom and the urge to meet someone new took hold. “It’s been fun getting to know new people…even though I wasn’t allowed to meet my matches in person, it definitely helped me weed out the fake ones and meet guys who were serious about getting into a relationship” says Cypress College student Alison Cruz.
As restrictions lifted and places started opening back up, people have been reaching out to their matches to finally meet up in person.
Luis Guerrero said “Tinder was probably my most used app during quarantine. I was able to match with multiple girls and get to know them. Although I didn’t connect with most of them I grew friendships with some of them. I got to know a few girls and even got to hang out with them once places started to open. We were able to meet up at local coffee shops and dine in restaurants to get to know each other better.”
