Axiom: Golden age of swiping

Golden age of swiping
Illustration of directional sign with multiple arrows featuring digital icons including a thumbs up, a writing icon, a heart, and an exclamation point
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
Axios’ tech editor Megan Morrone explores dating on apps over 60:

Dating app fatigue is driving younger users away, but one demographic is just discovering the swipe: seniors.

💞 Why it matters: As more older Americans live longer and increasingly alone, they’re looking for love the new-fashioned way.

“Many older daters are approaching dating with a level of confidence and intentionality that younger users are still developing,” Michael Kaye, director of communications at Match.com, tells Axios.

The biggest names in dating — Tinder, Hinge and Bumble — skew younger.

Other apps, including Match and OurTime, “provide access and opportunity that may not exist organically in everyday life, especially after retirement, relocation, divorce or the loss of a partner,” Kaye says.

AARP calls Match the best site for “serious relationships” for seniors.

The intrigue: Shows like ABC’s “The Golden Bachelor” and Netflix’s “The Later Daters” have tapped into popular interest in seniors looking for love.

🌹 By the numbers: Most adults 65+ are not longtime dating app users, per a new UserTesting survey of 217 U.S. adults in this age group, provided to Axios

60% started using dating apps within the past three years. 30% started within the past year.72% say one of the hardest parts is figuring out which profiles are real.

Here’s how to get started on the apps:

1. ✨ Build an honest profile with recent photos. Write a bio that highlights your interests, lifestyle and whether you’re looking for a dinner companion, travel partner, long-term relationship or something else.

Ask someone you trust to take a look and offer tips. Claude or ChatGPT can also be helpful editing tools.

2🚫 Don’t send money or share financial details. Use the app’s messaging system before moving to personal email or phone calls. Meet in public places for first dates (coffee shops or daytime activities are ideal). Tell a friend or family member about your plans

.3. 🚩 Avoid sharing too much personal information early (address, full name, financial details). Red flags include overly quick professions of love, requests for money or inconsistent stories.

Friction point: AI advancements are making it much easier for scammers to create fake profiles.

Nearly 1 in 10 adults over 50 say they’ve had an online romantic connection that turned into a request for money or crypto, according to AARP data released in February.📲 

The bottom line: Older daters may be late to the apps, but they’re arriving at the exact moment dating platforms are being forced to solve their oldest problem: figuring out who’s real.Share this story.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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