As an eternally single woman β predominately by choice, might I add β you could say that I've become well acquainted with mainstream dating apps think Tinder , Hinge , Bumble , et al. But that also makes me pretty qualified to say that they're just not working right now.
Before they were a great way to kickstart an interaction with a stranger β and probably still are for a lucky few. But, at least for me and my single soldiers, we've noticed a shift in Yep, swiping right has gone stale.
Collectively, it seems that we're over IT-instigated connections. Thankfully, Tinder caught on to this communal apathy and suggested like-minded singles try meeting at a series of free 5k run clubs around London in June and July.
Unsurprisingly, I was all ears. Spoiler: mine did not. However, I am still totally in favour of ditching speed-dating for speed-darting. Most people, before a date, will spend a few minutes read: hours wondering what to wear β so it was incredibly refreshing to not give the subject more than a few seconds of thought, considering I've only got two pairs of running-appropriate leggings. Rounding the corner of The Edinboro Castle in Camden, I was relieved to see a fairly even split of men and women in their 20s and 30s β some of who I might have considered matching with β talking face-to-face, and not a single person staring at their phone.
Until the warm-up. Here, silence fell across the group of ish singles β not due to the intensity of the stretches, but rather the communal scanning, heads panning left and right to work out whose pace they were going to try and match. As someone who likes to run solo, my headphones successfully blocking out anyone and everyone around me, I had concerns about trying to hold a decent convo while trying to keep a decent pace.
