It’s time to get in your feels! For singles ready to navigate the dating scene, here are Bumble’s dating trend predictions for the year to come
In 2023, women-first dating app Bumble predicted a gentler approach to dating. Trends like guardrailing and love-life balance dominated the scene, allowing daters to set and prioritize their boundaries. As the COVID-19 pandemic ended early this year, singles were more than ready to date while traveling (see: Wanderlove).
2024 is predicted to be the year of the “self.” The ever-popular dating app garnered insights from more than 25,000 singles signed up on Bumble around the world, including the Philippines, identifying trends that will soon define dating. The self-partnered will look inward, quieting the voices that tell them that there isn’t enough time left to seek out love and settle for less than what they deserve. Singles will reject the constant strive for perfection, discarding outdated timelines and placing more value on emotional vulnerability, self-acceptance and shared priorities.
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Heading into 2024, more than half (63%) of female Filipina daters are optimistic about the dating scene. They also feel more certain about what they want from their dating relationships.
Now if you’re on the other side of the spectrum and feeling swiping fatigue, you’re not alone. 2023 may have proven to be a treacherous year for dating, with a lot of lessons learned the hard way. Spend the rest of the year revisiting what was. What will you take with you next year and how will you show up for yourself? These are questions worth answering to close this chapter.
For singles ready to navigate modern romance, here are Bumble’s dating trend predictions:
Timeline decline
It’s a known fact that singles, especially women, feel constantly pressured to follow traditional relationship timelines even if more people are marrying late and no longer feel the need to rely on old-fashioned family structures (with many choosing to be child-free).
In 2024, we’re seeing the decline of timelines in favor of women choosing to actively build their own path, with one in three (31%) of Filipino women saying they are no longer focused on adhering to traditional timelines and milestones. This is reflected in intentions with nearly three in four (76%) of women looking for a long-term relationship and less than one-third (31%) seeking marriage. For nearly half (43%) of women, this means only dating people who have the same perspective on timelines and milestones. And for a quarter of women (25%) in the Philippines, this means actively avoiding friends and family who put pressure on them, especially during holiday celebrations.
Gen(erational)-blend romance
Does age difference matter in a relationship? Building on dating beyond your “type,” there has been an increase in cross-generational relationships. Singles on Bumble are increasingly open to connections, both older and younger. For two in three (63%) people surveyed globally, age is not a defining factor when dating, with more than half (59%) of women saying they are now more open to dating someone younger than them. In the Philippines specifically, four in five men are now more open to dating older women. We’re also changing how we view others’ relationships with more than half of Filipino men (50%) and women (59%) on Bumble stating they have become less judgmental towards age gap relationships over the last year as compared to their global counterparts (34%).
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Val-core dating
Singles today are looking for shared priorities and expect their partners to not only care about social causes but to actively engage. “Val-Core” refers to the rise of people valuing engagement on issues that matter to them. For almost half (48%) of the people on Bumble in the Philippines, it’s key that their partners actively engage with politics and social causes; in fact, it makes them more attractive. Specifically, 84% of Filipinos say their potential partner engaging in Human Rights issues is important to them, followed by sustainability (73%), then politics and voting (72%). When it comes to dating, Bumble’s research shows that Filipino women are less open (63%) to dating someone with differing political views as compared to men (52%), and for one in three (36%) women, it’s a turn off if someone they’re dating is not aware of current societal issues.
Intuitive intimacy
For people today, particularly women, it seems attraction comes down to one key thing: emotional intimacy. Filipino singles are focused on finding security, safety and understanding, with 44% of those surveyed on Bumble believing that emotional intimacy is now more important than sex, and that it’s actually more attractive than physical connection. When it comes to dating, an overwhelming majority (78%) of women in the Philippines say it’s key that their partner has an understanding of both emotional and physical intimacy. In 2024, it’s time to get in your feels.
Consider-date
This year’s prioritization of self-care and mental health has led to more than half (58%) of singles around the world being more open about their mental health and making a concerted effort to slow down. In the Philippines, single people are reframing how they date to better protect their mental health, with almost half (49%) of those surveyed locally actively “slow-dating” and being considerate about how often they are dating to ensure quality over quantity, even more so amongst women (56%). In fact, almost half (46%) of Filipinos are actively seeking people who practice and value self-care. This is bringing back a trend that Bumble identified in the pandemic, challenging the “job-ification” of love with one in four (26%) Filipinos actively deterred by anyone who treats a date as a checklist exercise.
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Open-hearted masculinity
The year has been filled with global conversations about masculinity and gender roles in fashion, media, music and film (ken-ergy, anyone?). When it comes to relationships, close to one-third (30%) of Filipino men state that they have actively changed their behavior, becoming more vulnerable and open with people they’re dating than ever before. For 42% of men, this new-found openness has had a positive impact on their mental health and for whom a lack of vulnerability is now a dating deal-breaker.
Betterment burnout
From biohacking and starting your day at 5AM, to plugging into self-help podcasts, there has been a rise in people self-optimizing—striving to become a perfect version of themselves. This has led the majority (55%) of singles surveyed globally to feel pressure to constantly look for ways to better themselves, with this number being even higher in the Philippines with 69% of Filipinos feeling the same way. This leaves more than one in four (26%) feeling unworthy of a partner. Looking ahead to 2024, singles are rebelling against the constant self-improvement with more than two in three Filipino women surveyed (69%) taking active steps to be happier with who they are here and now. In fact, 38% of women will now only date people who will not try to change them.
Navigating the contemporary dating scene is not a simple feat, with plenty of people developing swiping fatigue early on. This 2024, according to Bumble, is the year to advocate for the self, prioritizing self-awareness and setting boundaries to give you your best dating experience/s yet.
Art Macky Arquilla
