Published on July 2nd, 2024 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

Virtual Dating: Millennials (and Zoomers) Prefer to Get to Know Each Other Before the First Date

Virtual dating has become an integral part of the lives of many internet users. Especially Millennials (born between 1981-1996) and Zoomers (born between 1997-2012). For them, online dating is as familiar and even commonplace as, for example, interacting on social networks.

However, if we delve deeper into this, we’ll see that the approach to web dating has changed over the past few years. And it’s these changes we want to discuss today.

From quick offline transition — to longer online dating

For a long time, users of dating platforms went to these services specifically for the first encounter, after which they tried to transfer communication offline as soon as possible. There was a certain logic to this. Some were afraid of missing out on an interesting potential romantic partner and preferred to meet them in person as quickly as possible in order to take the next step. Some just didn’t want to waste time on text messaging. And some couldn’t even answer the question why they were in such a hurry.

However, as we said above, things change. According to a recent study conducted by the dating app QuackQuack, millennials and zoomers are increasingly choosing to chat with someone online first and get to know them better, and only then move on to a real meeting. There is no longer a trend to rush into things, as there was a few years ago. This is definitely a positive tendency.

Against the backdrop of changes, users more often chose online video chats for dating

This is an interesting trend. Users opt for video chat to communicate easily online, but at the same time maintain a conversation format that is as close to a real meeting as possible. Video chatting is a great opportunity to get to know a person well enough and decide whether you are ready to meet them in real life and develop a relationship.

The choice of online video chat services today is truly impressive. Everyone will find something interesting for themselves:

Monkey — an online video chat app that allows you to communicate one-on-one with strangers, conduct video streams, launch group chats with several participants, and view profiles and publications of other users. Monkey is not just a chatroulette, but also a fully functional social network.
CooMeet — a popular video chat app with gender search settings. Official site CooMeet allows men to communicate only with girls, and for many this is an important advantage. Moderators check all girls’ profiles, so there are no fakes on the site. In addition, there is high quality audio and video, and a trial period available.
Holla — a convenient video chat app for smartphones on which you can communicate both by text and by video. For your convenience, a geographic filter has been implemented, allowing you to find people specifically from your country. This means you have every chance of meeting in real life and continuing your dating offline.
Hala Video Chat Chamade — online video chat with user profiles, the ability to add them as friends, communicate in text chat or via video. You can also easily find people with similar interests, give virtual gifts to the users you like, and just have a good time communicating with like-minded people.
LivU — an online video chat service that allows you to communicate by text or video, exchange media files, use virtual masks for video, search for chat partners by gender, add interesting users as friends, and much more. A good service for those who crave varied communication with interesting people.
Azar — a very functional video chat application, which at the same time combines the features of a social network and a video streaming platform. You can view the profiles of other people, communicate with them by text or video, watch video streams of those you are interested in, give gifts to other participants, and even make donations.
Tumile Live-Video-Chat — an online video chat app in which you can communicate by text or video, use quite specific settings for searching for other users, and also take advantage of original and creative AR masks to show your individuality and attract more attention from your chat partners.
Video — a video chat app for dating and communicating with new people, which will help you not only make new friends with similar interests, but also perhaps find your love. Worth a try if you’re looking for something new.
Milly — a simple online video chat with a large international community and a gender filter. Among the interesting features of Milly, it is worth noting the ability to give virtual gifts to users you like, thereby attracting their attention and making them more fond of you.

As you can see, there are more than enough interesting and original video chat apps today. Spend a little time evaluating them, and you will definitely find the perfect option for your goals and objectives.

At the same time, it’s very important to remember the basic rules of safe communication and dating on the internet. Don’t forget that there are still quite a lot of attackers and scammers online. Yes, there are fewer of them in video chat than on classic dating services, because they don’t want to show their faces. But this is not a reason to relax too much and trust absolutely all new acquaintances, and especially not be too hasty to meet someone you barely know.

But why did people begin to study each other more carefully before actually meeting?

There are actually quite a few reasons:

Firstly, it provides an opportunity to test the match, common values, interests and desires.
Secondly, it helps avoid disappointment, awkward situations and wasting time on unsuitable partners.
Finally, it increases the level of trust and comfort, which promotes more open and deep communication.

This is especially true for women who want to know how their partner approaches difficult situations, how he relates to different aspects of life and relationships, and how he behaves in conflict and stressful situations. Women also want to eliminate “red flags” — signs of aggression, violence, manipulation, lies, etc. — before moving on to more serious relationships. Men are also in no hurry to go on a date with the first girl who answers them. They want to wait and see how interesting, smart, funny and attractive she is.

Online dating is becoming more self-aware

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that in the past, not many people took online dating very seriously. For a lot of people it was more of a simple entertainment than a chance to find love or at least make new friends. And for some time, society was not very friendly towards online dating as a phenomenon.

Fortunately, today all (or almost all) those stereotypes are a thing of the past. Online dating has become an integral part of the lives of millions of people. Plus, it has shown its effectiveness, because more than 17% of modern marriages are between people who met on the internet. And this number keeps growing.

Therefore, if for some reason you have until now ignored online dating or considered it not promising enough, it’s time to get rid of those stereotypes and beliefs. Give it a try. You’ll definitely like it!

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Tags: Millennials, online dating, virtual dating

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.