Gen Z Dating

Since the beginning of time, humans have performed interesting little mating rituals to find themselves a partner. Fast forward a little from the beginning and we started to introduce romance into the call to attract a lover.

For a long time, there were formal introductions, sweet gestures, and eventually love letters and phone calls…but today? In the last decade we’ve witnessed relationships spurred by TikTok trends, creative labels like “situationships,” and a whole new set of rules for decorum and courtship. 

Beyond the one inescapable consistency of awkward first dates, every generation has its own unique approaches to love and romance, particularly Gen-Z dating. Here’s a fun look at how some of the most recent eras stack up against each other. 

Boomers (1946–1964)

Perhaps best acknowledged as traditional romantics, Boomers were raised in an era where courtship was both structured and acknowledged as the default path for most individuals. It was a heteronormative process in which the men asked the woman on dates and long-term commitment was the expectation—meaning no premarital cohabitation and no kissing on the first date. Often in their early twenties, many headed down the aisle at relatively young ages.

Gen X (1965–1980)

With a trend towards independence and rising divorce rates spurring a shift towards cynicism, Gen X dating culture became more casual. While landline phone calls were still the norm, so too were love letters, carefully curated mixtapes, and the “accidental” mall encounter. A purely offline experience that allowed for plenty of experimentation without the same strings as previous generations. 

Millennials (1981–1996)

An analogue youth and digital adolescence introduced Millennials to the world of online dating just as many of them aged into relationships concurrently alongside the internet. The first generation to fully embrace a digital romance, these individuals introduced significant changes to dating culture necessitated by the new ways of communication. 

Ghosting, for example, evolved from the desire to escape from a burgeoning dynamic mid-text thread. While this era is more likely to Netflix and Chill than head to dinner and a movie, they do still cling to the hope of finding soulmates and living in somewhat traditional partnerships with love and romance. 

Gen Z (1997–2012)

Gen Z are the true digital natives. While Millennials might have embraced dating apps, it was the Gen Z dating pool who honed the skill and finessed the ability to meet people through social media and foster relationships largely online. Think: sliding into the DMs, sending an emoji on TikTok, or exchanging pics on Discord. 

Another trendsetting generation, Gen Z dating styles also cultivated the notion of “situationships“, which takes the concept of ambiguous casual dating even further than Gen X. Living amongst the grey area of interacting and official dating, the new default appears to be commitment optional, wherein feelings might be implied but need not be confirmed. 

An online-based relationship foundation brings with it risks unlike those of the past. Gen Z holds a respectable level of digital literacy and a healthy amount of caution when it comes to protecting their privacy. Many know the value of using a private, secondary number like Hushed for all their digital dating escapades. Even today, love and personal safety can and should go hand-in-hand.