Valentine’s Day: Tinder usage expected to rise as singletons look for love

Dating app Tinder reportedly saw a 20 percent increase in usage on February 14, 2017. A similar trend is expected for this year. Some experts suggested that it should not come as a surprise as singletons tend to feel loneliness on Valentine’s Day.

Singletons are looking for love despite living miles away from others. Recent data suggest that Tinder users from Sweden, USA and Great Britain lead the list of single people altering their locations within the dating app. Users can change their location to connect with people anywhere across the globe through the Tinder Passport feature. They can either search by city or drop a pin on a map.

Tinder bosses reportedly saw an overall increase of 1,850 percent of users “passporting” into Pyeongchang's Olympic village. Singletons appear to be in a bid to date figure skaters, ski jumpers, and snowboarders competing in Pyeongchang.

The Daily Mail notes that it was revealed earlier this month that organisers are giving out a record number of condoms at the Winter Games. Rubber manufacturer Convenience Co has donated up to 100,000 of the condoms. The company said it did so for a “successful hosting of the Winter Olympics and the prevention of the spread of the HIV virus.”

'Desperate' strategy

Experts shared their views about last-ditch efforts for a date, saying it may appear desperate. For gender studies expert Lauren Rosewarne, finding a partner in the days immediately prior to February 14 may not be a wise move.

Rosewarne, from the University of Melbourne, told the ABC that it was not surprising that single people feel the sting of loneliness. But she explained that there is an element of people being able to sense desperation in someone else.

"Trying to have an intense relationship, trying to find someone to be with on Valentine's Day that you've just met, it's a high amount of pressure for a first date," the ABC reports her as saying.

Rosewarne said that the occasion was all about coupledom. "That then reminds people who aren't coupled that they're some way deficient and they may seek to remedy that by going online, because we've got to a point in our culture where pretty much online dating is packaged as the only game in town now,” she explained.