"For all that dating apps feel ubiquitous in 2025, there's an equally forceful counterweight to them: frustration with dating apps and everything about them. But there's a growing body of evidence that people, especially in Gen Z, are logging out of these apps for good. In an article for WIRED, Daniel Roman observed that the percentage of Americans who were using dating apps dropped from 18% to 15% between 2019 and 2022."
"In a recent article for Air Mail, Paulina Prosnitz explored the activities that have cropped up for singles looking to meet other singles without a screen between them. The article points to activities like pickleball, cornhole and backgammon, and it's easy to see why a competitive activity could have an advantage over, say, more traditional ideas of speed dating. Prosnitz also cites the growing popularity of run clubs as way for people to make a potential connection."
Dating app use among Americans fell from 18% to 15% between 2019 and 2022. Younger people, especially Gen Z, are moving away from using apps as the exclusive route to in-person meetings and favor more fluid ways to connect. Activity-focused meetups such as pickleball, cornhole, backgammon and run clubs provide opportunities to meet without screens, emphasizing competition, shared physical activity and reduced focus on alcohol. These in-person activities create natural social contexts for connection, potentially replacing app-mediated encounters with embodied, health-oriented and socially interactive beginnings to relationships.
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