Stanford report: These days, the only things that can help you find your partner are the Internet and bars

According to Stanford University's latest research in 2019, "Disintermediating your friends", after surpassing friend-based matchmaking for the first time in 2013, online dating has become the mainstream way for Americans to form couples in 2017, accounting for nearly 40%.

Over the past decade, with the rise of smartphones and mobile dating apps, the proportion of couples matching online has increased significantly. The proportion of couples and other relationships that began online increased from 2% in 1995 to 39% in 2017, while the proportion of traditional dating models, such as matchmaking through friends and family, decreased from 33% and 15% in 1995 to 20% and 7% in 2017, respectively.

For those looking for love online, the proportion of people matching with strangers is also increasing, from 81% in 2009 to 89.5%, while the proportion of people using friends as matching intermediaries has dropped from 11.2% to 3.7%.

If you're still single, don't expect your neighbors to match you up, as the percentage of people who say they help you find a date has dropped from 8% to 3%. Your coworkers are also unlikely to be your matchmakers, with the percentage dropping from 19% in 1995 to 11%.

Shared physical space and similar experiences are no longer sufficient in today’s smartphone-blinded age, and the efficiency of matchmaking has also declined. Data shows that the proportion of matches in middle and high schools has dropped from 10% to 5%, the proportion of successful church matchmaking has dropped from 7% to 4%, and the proportion of successful college matchmaking has dropped from 9% to 4%.

The only survivors of physical spaces are bars and restaurants, where the rate of successful pairings has increased from 19% 10 years ago to 27%. This shows that the bright lights, drunkenness, and dreamy bar and dining scenes are the only pairing scenes that can break the smartphone.

The rise of the Internet in wedding matchmaking seems unsurprising. In the past, distances were too far and travel was too slow. Friends and family were a bridge for a person to connect to new relationships and information, and this bridge often had a certain degree of guarantee and credibility, and has always played an important role in relationships between the sexes. But the benefits of Internet dating apps are: 1. The number of people connected is far greater than your friends and family, and it is more valuable for those who are looking for "true love" and other difficult-to-find things. For example, the role of the Internet on the gay community is far greater than that on heterosexuals. 2. People may not be willing to share their dating preferences with their parents and friends. 3. Online dating platforms can provide massive and updated personal information, which is not possible in the traditional marriage model where parents and family act as intermediaries. 4. Online dating platforms can improve their matching algorithms and efficiency in the long run.

Of course, online dating platforms are not perfect. Marriage and dating platforms are full of fake personal information, and photos may be beautified to the extreme, which is used by illegal scammers to stir up trouble. In addition, because marriage and dating still emphasize face-to-face communication, these factors will hinder the growth of online matching. However, as our dependence on the digital world deepens, it can be predicted that the online world will have a deeper and deeper impact on our marriage and dating behavior and views.

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