While I have speak of COVID-19 on recent posts such as here and here, this post is a lot more future oriented.
As we might see lockdowns being lifted, the fact of the matter is that COVID-19 is such a significant event in history that I see it legitimately having long-term impacts on meeting women. One philosophy I have always lived my life by is that you should always anticipate the change happening and get on top of it so you don’t fall behind.
I think that due to COVID-19 society is going to change in such a way that it will trickle down into how we meet each other and yes, date each other. As for how that will change, I first wanted to cover some potential drivers.
A potential move away from big cities and popularity of remote work.
A recent poll released found that a significant number of respondents have shown a strong interest in moving away from city life. I think back to when I moved to NYC myself, one of the main drivers is because of the opportunities this city offered for having fun and not feeling the downward pull of marriage, kids, and a house with a picket fence lifestyle which I find is the case in the majority of the country.
With remote work becoming more of the norm every passing year, we are going to find that there might be less of a potential demand for moving to big cities for the working life. I think we could see a new trend popping up such as coliving among remote workers which I see as being almost like a college dorm lifestyle for young professionals.
As remote work becomes normalized and the potential move from big cities happens, I think certain towns might become inhabited in droves by a large number of younger people looking to work and live life. Now instead of a local market economy, I think what will matter more are things like safety, clean environment, nature, and amount of things to potentially do. We could have towns and places that become almost packed with single people in prime hookup ages (21-35 I guess?).
My wild prediction is that the crowd might move overwhelmingly to beach towns, mountain towns, or any place with good nature and some things to do which is not inhabited by the retired. Certain towns might just see a boom of young professionals which could be good for business, especially local bars in town, but before we get too optimistic….
A great decline in nightlife and going out to drink and party.
I see the fear of COVID-19 living long after it has passed, at least a couple years more but probably longer. We were already getting anti-social as a community anyways and social distancing well before COVID-19 happened, this just added fuel to the fire. I think that nightlife, going out, drinking, and partying will see a steep decline in the foreseeable future.
Now I think this comes with one silver lining, the women who do go out and still hit the clubs and bars are going to really want to go home with men they met that night. Such women are going to take higher risks and not be as standoffish about it. In other words, the best way to put it? The odds are good but the goods are odd.
For how this will bring about change in the dating culture and how people meet.
Online dating is going to have a monopoly here.
I have seen my Tinder and Hinge matches practically explode ever since COVID-19 hit and the lockdown was implemented. What I see happening now with nightlife dying down and women being more on-guard from daygame is that so much more will go online. Schools and businesses that normally have more people in them will now have less, expect for daygame to be less viable. The guys who will rule the market are those with the best photos and potentially the best social media accounts. In order to get to the top tiers, I think that an exceptional online dating profile will become almost mandatory.
Creating trust will now be more important than creating excitement.
When times are easy and conflict-free, women crave men who create excitement and have a bad boy persona. While having the traits of an alpha male with bad boy characteristics will always be helpful, I think the coming times will challenge the trust we have towards outsiders and strangers. On top of online dating experts, men who are good at social circles and creating just enough trust will be those that thrive in the coming times. Do not mistake me saying creating trust as being a nice guy, expect it to mean more so about creating some familiarity as society becomes more risk-averse.
Harder to open, easier to close.
We noticed a trend in the turn of the century, especially with the social media and selfie culture, that it was actually easier to get a woman’s but hard to close. You encountered more last-minute resistance and objections when you had her back to your place, about to have sex. Now with COVID-19, I think that there are going to be a lot of bored women but there is a silver lining here. While the decline in nightlife and less options in the day mean less options overall, once you do create that initial interest and gain trust, it will be easier for sex to happen. I think more and more women will be craving sex and will make things that much easier for the right guy.
The party might still just move somewhere else from traditional places.
While nightlife might die down a significant amount due to what has happened, the party overall might just move to a different avenue. Perhaps people close in more on social circles they know and house parties become normal. Despite the circumstances, you cannot underestimate a younger person’s need to party and get wild. Maybe music festivals become more crowded as those hungry for that kind of a lifestyle basically pour into them once they open up. I find it turning more into high school almost where due to bars and nightclubs not surviving to the same degree, people might just party at a given place local to the neighborhood, a given person’s house, or some commons area. These might be places where more people end up meeting.
Millennial Bachelor 