Date of this Version
12-13-2020
Project Type
Research
Rights
default
Abstract
Over 32 million Americans have used online dating applications in 2020 alone. This year has been one of many changes and challenges ever since the coronavirus made its way into the United States spreading to every state, killing millions of people. Due to the nature of the virus, states were forced to lockdown and residents had no choice but to social distance, quarantine, and abide by city curfews. Because this virus is relatively new, little research to no research has been conducted to examine the impact the pandemic has had on the online dating culture, specifically in South Florida. The purpose of this study is to examine young people’s current experiences with online dating, their needs, and what the future of online dating may look like moving forward depending on those needs. To answer these questions, the researcher created an anonymous online survey based on the uses and gratification theory. The survey was completed by 34 young adults residing in Miami-Dade/Broward counties, recruited via social Instagram. The findings of this survey indicate that: young adults have adapted to the changes and continued to seek gratification through online dating, many people that it is currently the safest way to date, and desire for the online dating experience to be enhanced by providing “safe-dating” recommendations for users and games that allow for connection building. Future qualitative research should be conducted to further explore how users’ experiences and desires continue to change throughout the stages of a global pandemic.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Santiago Duclerc, Evangely Esther, "Online Dating During a Pandemic" (2020). Global Strategic Communications Student Work. 2.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/gsc/2
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