Gen Z is looking for authenticity and stability in relationships for the coming year…
A big part of the recent years has gone into millennials and Gen Z folks trying to navigate relationships in the era of social media. Dating theories and trends like ‘Pebbling’, ‘Ghostlighting’, and the ‘3 Month Rule’ have been a mainstay of the Internet for a while but, as it turns out, we’re not going to be leaving cleverly-named relationship trends behind in 2024.
According to Bumble’s annual dating trends report for 2025, the year is expected to be a transitional one. People who are looking for relationships will be seeking clarity about what they want and need and won’t settle for anything less than that.
The dating app surveyed 41,294 users in September to narrow down the most popular dating trends for 2025 amongst Gen Z and millennials.
The predictions include trends like ‘Micro-mance’, ‘Future-Proofing’, ‘Male Casting’ and ‘DWM (Date With Me)’.
86% of the respondents in the survey agreed that grand gestures are great but small romantic acts are where it’s at. Women would want to be ‘Micro-manced’, ie. wooed with thoughtful gestures that might be small but more impactful. While more meaningful acts of love are predicted to be at the forefront in the coming year, stability is also going to be high up on the list of priorities in relationships.
95% of the singles surveyed claimed that worries about the future impacted who and how they date. This is why ‘Future-Proofing’ is going to be a big trend in 2025. People don’t want to waste time in relationships that cannot meet their various needs, including both financial and emotional ones.
We’re also going to see terms like ‘Rat Boyfriend’, ‘Men in Finance’ and ‘Babygirl Men’ peter down as conversations about men and the stereotypes about their roles in relationships will gain momentum via the ‘Male Casting’ trend.
The report has found that shared interests and transparency are going to be a big conversation for people who are looking to be in long-term relationships in the coming year. Trends like ‘DWM (Date With Me)’, which is an extension of the popular ‘GRWM (Get Ready With Me)’ trend and will see a rise in people being more open about their dating lives online, and ‘On The Same (Fan) Page’, which will see people in micro-communities and niche fandoms getting drawn to each other, will be big, both intersecting with social media lives of the people involved.
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Salva Mubarak is the Digital Editor of Manifest. In her free time, she likes to read murder mysteries, discover new KitKat flavours, and rank movie makeovers (not necessarily in that order). View Profile
