People are spending more time on online dating apps amid the coronavirus pandemic, data shows.
According to information from OkCupid, daters sent more than 35 million intro messages in March, which is about 4 million more than in the same time frame last year. And while people are using these apps now more than ever, experts say you shouldn't be on the app for more than 30 minutes a day.
That's according to Dr. Jess Carbino, the former in-house sociologist at Bumble and Tinder. She told Business Insider that daters should use apps 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night — especially once the novelty and excitement wear off, which tends to happen a month in. All in all, she says you shouldn't be spending more than an hour a day on dating apps.
"There has to be a boundary associated with how anyone spends their time," Carbino said.
Carbino's caveat is that if you're really active on dating apps and messaging with multiple people at once, 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening might be fine. The point is not to spend hours every day swiping through one profile after another without actually communicating with anyone.
Yet according to a survey by dating app Badoo, its users spend on average 90 minutes a day online dating, logging on 10 times a day for about nine minutes at a time.
"People are busy, and they need to think about dating as a part of their life, as a component of their life," Carbino said. "It shouldn't feel like a job. Dating should feel like something that you're doing in order to meet somebody."
A more effective way to use those hours (and hours) instead of swiping? Carbino said: "It would be better if you were spending a couple hours a week on a date, or two dates, or three dates, and trying to get to know people that you've matched with."
