Voice of London

Dating in the city is not easy and definitely isn’t how the films make it out to be. You don’t meet Mr. Right whilst waiting in line for a coffee or waiting for the tube. He does not do everything in his power to land a date with you or turn up outside your flat with roses and you most likely don’t take a long, romantic walk around Hyde Park. 

I think we all wish we were Carrie Bradshaw, living the dream of sex and the city but in reality, love in London is hard and finding Mr. Big is a task.

In 2019 the dating game has never been so competitive and complex. We have tinder, bumble and a generation of individuals that at times act like they have forgotten how to communicate with each other face to face because they are constantly hiding behind a screen. 

It’s not how it used to be. Back in the day you was either dating or not, simple as that but now we have the ‘talking’ stage, the ‘just sleeping together’ stage, the ‘we are seeing how things go’, the ‘casual’ stage and then we are ‘just texting’ stage. It sounds fun, right? Dating today consists a lot of not knowing where you stand and figuring out if it is serious or not.

Where is the romance, where is the excitement? It feels like dating apps are draining all of it. I remember when I was younger if I heard about dating apps, I thought of either elderly people or individuals that were recently divorced. 

Times have changed drastically, dating apps are now mainly used by individuals in their 20s. How scary is that? Your 20s are meant to be when you have all the time in the world to go out and meet people the old fashioned way. Times are changing and that also means that, unfortunately, people’s expectations and hopes of a relationship are as well. 

Is it because we are all so busy? Is it because we have got lazy? Is it because strangers in a big city like London are scary? Have people just lost hope?

Within the online dating world, each individual has a different purpose for why they create an online dating account, it can be an extremely scary and intimidating way of dating but if done right and in a safe way it can be a whole lot of fun as well. 

You meet a variety of different individuals and put yourself out there which is hard to do in London. It is not for everyone, but if you haven’t done so already it is worth a shot.

Words: Emily Boorman

Infographic: Emily Boorman

Photos: Jillian Keith