Dating-related internet searches surge as singles seek companionship

Singles eager to date

For many who feared in-person conversation and physical contact with a new acquaintance before both parties received their vaccine shots, the summer of 2021 offers a crash course in relearning how to date.

NEW YORK - For many who feared in-person conversation and physical contact with a new acquaintance before both parties received their vaccine shots, the summer of 2021 offers a crash course in relearning how to date.

Google saw "dating" searches reach a five-year high this summer, with queries for "top dating apps" and "dating apps for older people" surging more than 3,300% in the last month.

"Many people are very sexually frustrated," Dr. Paulette Sherman said. "They haven't met up in person and had any physical intimacy."

And yet, Sherman, a psychologist and the author of Dating from the Inside Out, expects courtship in this hopefully-end-of-pandemic period to move more slowly than it did pre-pandemic.

"On one hand [singles are] craving to just go out and get wild and really connect with somebody and it's been way too long," she said. "And on the other hand they're scared still, and trust has become really important."

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