If you’re single and actively dating, chances are you’re on at least one dating app. It’s probably the easiest way to find a date for the night, but not necessarily a relationship. Enter “slow dating,” a concept coined by French dating app Once. Here’s what you need to know about it and how it could help you finally find love.
- It’s all about making good choices. The concept of Once, which recently launched in the US, is simple: you’re shown only one match per day so that you’re not overwhelmed with options and actually have a chance to see whether or not you’re into someone before hastily swiping onto the next one.
- Your partner is in the same boat. The person whose profile you’re viewing is seeing yours at the same time, and you’ll be able to check each other out and comb through the details for a full 24 hours before deciding whether or not you think there could be some chemistry there.
- There’s way less distraction. Since you’re only seeing one match every 24 hours, there’s no chance of your attention being pulled away by dozens of other options. Often on dating apps, it’s too easy to swipe carelessly and judge on impressions we form in the first few seconds. Once aims to force us to pay closer attention.
- It could help your self-esteem. According to the Once website, they believe slow dating could boost your confidence since you’re not facing potentially dozens of rejections a day. If you put in real time and effort to make your dating profile pop, it sucks to know that you’re just another face in an endless stream of options. Hopefully, by only matching with one person a day, you have a higher chance of being truly appreciated for who you are rather than just for your profile pic.
- You’ll spend less time on your phone. Assuming you’re only using Once, their method of slow dating means you won’t lose hours to the app every day. After all, you might spend 15-20 minutes reading through your daily match’s profile, but since you’re not mindlessly swiping through a bajillion profiles a day, chances are you’ll put down your phone and go do something more worthwhile with your time after you’ve checked today’s match out. That’s the theory anyway!
- The connections you do form might be more meaningful. Because you’ve actually taken the time to consciously decide to chat to a match and they feel the same, chances are there’s already somewhat of a spark there (or at least the potential for one). Hey, it’s worth a try.
