Seeking A Bae For The End Of The World

Welcome to your new social life, where happy hours are conducted over Zoom and the only club you’re going to is DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine right in your living room.

- Bruna

As our new normal continues to shift, social distancing has caused all of us to adapt in ways we never even considered. But that doesn’t mean dating has to be a thing of the past.

Regardless of prohibitions against physical contact, singles are refusing to let this virus get in the way of finding everlasting love, or at the very least a quarantine bae—who could very well be your apocalypse partner, so choose carefully.

It makes sense that we crave connection the most when it seems forbidden.

Dating apps are seeing unprecedented spikes in activity, compelling them to pivot in ways that better serve the dating community given our new circumstances. According to CNBC, Bumble recorded a roughly 20 percent increase in some major cities. The app, which started offering inapp calls and video chats last summer, saw an increase of 21 percent in Bumble Video Calls just in the past week.

Meanwhile, Match.com initiated a Dating While Distancing hotline where users can submit questions to the company’s dating experts for free, 12 hours a day; Tinder has made its Passport feature free for all users until April 30; and Plenty of Fish has added a LIVE! feature, giving potential matches the ability to live stream and connect with each other.

Swiping has always been a form of boredom relief, but now users are actually taking their matches a step further without stepping out of the house. Video calls, Zoom dates and other forms of digital connection can make up for the lack of physical contact.