Singles ‘giving up’ in the pursuit of love

With Blind Date long gone and Naked Attraction recently axed, it seems TV is reflecting real life as dating is on the decline…

A UK wide study has revealed as many 74 percent of single Britons polled have either “given up” or are “taking a lengthy break” from the pursuit of love, with 47 percent saying people simply do not tell the TRUTH. 51 percent have been fibbed to about a suitors age, while a third (33 percent) have turned up to a date where the person was shorter or taller than they had said they were.

30 percent of those surveyed have been lied to about someone’s career, while 22 percent say they have been told someone was fit and healthy, only to turn up to a date and see that it was untrue.

Having interesting hobbies (22 percent), being rich (42 percent) and even being single (44 percent) are other common lies, routinely wheeled out by single Brits, according to the 2,000 Brits surveyed by dating site, seeking.com.

More than a fifth (22 percent) have arrived to meet someone only for them to be from an entirely different generation to them, while 21 percent have found the person to be considerably shorter than they said they were.

One in six (15 percent) have tipped up to meet someone who had children but didn’t tell them and eight percent have been out for a drink with someone who said they were teetotal, when they weren’t. When probed about the pitfalls of finding a partner, as many as a QUARTER (26 percent) go so far as to saying the current dating scene is “a nightmare”. While 38 percent can’t find anyone that they actually like, and 19 percent are bored of putting in the effort, for zero return.

Cilla Black, Blind Date, LWT

When it comes to online platforms, 36 percent of those surveyed said they dislike using them, while as many as 23 percent go further and say they HATE them. On average, online daters spend 19 days talking to someone before meeting them face-to-face, even though three quarters (73 percent) would like to meet up sooner.

Seeking.com’s in-house dating expert, Emma Hathorn:

“The research shows that single Brits are struggling with the current online dating world. We know that online dating is still one of the most popular ways to meet your future partner and we can’t see that changing any time soon as we celebrate three decades since online dating first started. British daters know what they want, they have high standards. It’s now about finding platforms that allow those standards to not only be met but exceeded.

“At Seeking, honesty and transparency are at the very centre of what we stand for on our dating platform so it’s promising to see how important that is to British daters.”

One in five (20 percent) daters say they are struggling to find anyone that is on their level or shares their values, while 19 percent are bored of dating and feel like it is a second job (12 percent). What we can glean from this, is that honesty is the cure to dating fatigue— it’s just about how to find a platform that encourages an environment free of fibs.