Millennial Dating Trends

Would you believe that dating has now become digital? Everything nowadays can be done in just a few swipes and clicks. Swipe right, you can immediately match up with someone on a specific dating application. Terms such as ghosting, benching, breadcrumbing (who would even associate love with bread crumbs?!), and a lot more are springing left and right, thanks to the creative minds of millennials worldwide. With millennials possessing a passionate and bold lifestyle, dating has been very different in this day and age. Marriage on the other hand, has been said to be extinct 30 years from now. This is because cohabitation or “living in” has been rampant in society. This simply means a couple lives together under one roof, taking the role of husband and wife, without the legal bondage of it. For couples in a long term relationship, this is a practical strategy because they can still be together without having to get married.

But what makes Millennials Different in terms of Dating?

Their playful and fierce lifestyle contributes greatly to their dating preferences. Firstly, casual sex has been openly accepted all across the globe. Escorts, fuck-buddies, and friends with benefits can easily be accessed with just a few clicks. With activities like this so rampant in society, millennials would prefer instant gratification of their pleasures and desires.

Even breaking up with your significant other has been changed by millennials. Ghosting, just like what it implies, means a person instantly leaves another person without explanation. It means cutting out all means of communication, thereby leaving the other person holding onto nothing. This is one toxic trait of millennials since it exploits the feelings of other people. What would you feel if your partner suddenly leaves you without any reason? Sucks right?

Another dating trend in 2019 is called breadcrumbing. If you have strong emotional ties with your SO, this trend makes ghosting a much more painful experience. Unlike ghosting, breadcrumbing means the other person leaves “little bits and pieces of interest” in you, just like bread crumbs which are normally seen scattered. This is for the purpose of keeping your attention. To put it simply, the other person does not want you in their life, but they like the attention you give them. Sounds familiar? They might send you a few flirt text every so often, but they do not intentionally want to have a conversation with you. If you think millennials have gone enough with the play of words, then think again.

Have you ever heard of orbiting? Not the kind of orbiting you earn in Astronomy, though. For millennials, orbiting means a person watches you silently, they may be liking your Facebook posts, watching your Instagram stories, of retweeting your Twitter feed, but they’re not directly engaging in a conversation with you. It’s like they “orbit” around you, but not getting anywhere near you.

Last thing that sets millennials apart from other generations, they seek perfection. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but when taken out of context, it can sprout problems in a relationship. With the influence of mainstream media (movies, television, social media), people tend to create an idealistic concept of love, just like what they see on screen. The problem is, perfection does not exist. You cannot find all the traits you look for in a single person. This distorts the idea of individuality and diversity.

These can be very new to you, and there are many other things that millennials have contributed to the world, but dating is just one facet of life that they revolutionized using their creative and audacious minds. Who knows what Gen Z holds?