Love is strange, and now it's even stranger. Finding love during a pandemic is a complication only novelists should face on a page, but it’s something that singles are struggling with online.
ISP Viasat went in search of the questions people had about love across the United States by looking at what people were asking via Answer the Public, Google Trends, and SEMrush. As we near Valentine’s Day, it's both heartening and heartrending to see these questions, ranging from the start of attraction to the end of the affair.
Some people have been looking for love on the apps they normally use, such as Twitter and Instagram, as evidenced by the residents of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming, who are looking for tips on how to slide into those DMs.
There are still lots of people looking for the apps that will help them find the one. In Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas, the question is, "What are the top dating apps?" Despite the many reasons not to meet in person right now, dating apps have been doing well, with many people making more intentional dating decisions than they have in the past.
Once daters have settled on an app (or apps, as is usually the case with online dating, where people don’t limit their options), they face the question of what to do next, particularly now. In COVID times, many apps have added video dates. This is a convenient and even necessary feature, but like everything else about dating, it comes with its own anxieties. How do you date online? What are good activities for video dates? These questions make up the majority of searches.
While lots of people have somehow found love online during lockdown, things have not gone so well for others. “How to break up over text” was the leading dating search in Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
One thing to keep in mind when dating: There are plenty of fish on Plenty of Fish.