Cateory: BLOG
Report: Love in the Digital Age.
On the occasion of the upcoming Valentine’s Day, the research department of the Streetcom agency decided to check what the topic of relationships and making friends is like among the Millennials and Zoomers generation.
How do young people from generations Z and Y get to know each other in today’s world? Does online win over offline? What do they think about relationships that started online? Where do they most often look for partners? How soon do they meet in real life after they like each other online? More about this in the Streetcom Agency Report – “Love in the Digital Age”.
Close relationships that begin online are becoming increasingly important
Although interpersonal relationships are becoming more and more digital, getting to know your other half still most often takes place in the offline world. Nearly 7 out of 10 Zoomers and Millennials met the person they are currently in a relationship with offline. However, looking at it from a different perspective, as many as every third Zoomer or Millenial met a loved one via the Internet, and 86% of respondents aged 18-43 know at least one couple who met this way. This is not a small thing, we can see the same trends that we observe in the United States and throughout Western Europe.
Millennials are more likely than Zoomers to treat the internet as the only source of meeting their “other half”
It is worth emphasizing that Millennials are more active in searching for their “other half” online – 14% of singles from Generation Y and only 7% of singles from Generation Z are looking for a loved one exclusively online. This seems quite reasonable, because with age, the chance of meeting a partner among one’s friends may decrease.
Dating sites – they are the ones that most often connect couples in the online world
What specific places on the Internet are the most popular? Dating sites dominate: 45% of Zoomers and 52% of Millennials paired on online platforms choose this place. Second in order are social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) – 39% of Zoomers and 26% of Millennials say so. It can be concluded from this that there is a slight advantage in the popularity of dating sites among the older generation Y, while social media has a stronger position among the younger ones (Generation Z) 13%.
Online relationships quickly move to reality
Relationships that start online do not stay exclusively there for long. If a partner seems valuable to us, we quickly want to see them and see if there is “chemistry” in real life. 51% of Millennials and 43% of Zoomers who met online and eventually became a couple met in real life after just a few days. 24% of Zoomers and 32% of Millennials decided to do so after a month. This shows that the Internet helps us find a partner, but does not replace the traditional form of establishing and building relationships.
We believe more and more in the sense and durability of relationships that begin online
The belief in the chances of meeting someone online and the durability of these relationships is quite high, which may distinguish younger generations from older ones. Couples meeting online used to be a niche, but today there are more and more of them. What is worth adding – the image of such relationships is becoming more and more positive. Only 25% of respondents believe that relationships formed online are often less durable than offline ones. The medium of getting to know your “other half” is not crucial in determining whether the relationship will survive various types of tests. Nearly ½ of the surveyed Millennials and Zoomers believe that the chance of meeting someone valuable online is similar to that in the offline world.
We are becoming more and more open to relationships initiated online
Young people also see the future of online relationships positively. As many as 9 out of 10 respondents from Generation Z and Y believe that over time, more and more couples will meet on the Internet. Currently, 3/4 singles from Generation Z and Y are looking for a partner both online and offline, which shows equality in the perception of these two levels.
A chance for love, for everyone
Does age affect openness to a new relationship? It turns out not, because 9 out of 10 singles aged 18-43 admitted in a survey conducted by Streetcom that they were open to a new relationship. If you are single, maybe today is the day when you will meet your other half?
The study was carried out by the Streetcom Poland agency on February 3-8, 2023 using the CAWI technique on a group of Poles aged 18-43. Zoomers N= 1,144, Millennials N= 2,241
