Single, after a year of separation, will it be a summer of flirtation?

After more than a year of restrictions, isolation, closed premises and prohibited travel, will this be the summer of love, flirting and love stories? In reality, it is wrong to believe that, in recent months, singles have not worked to meet anyway and to build new intimacies, even if necessarily online.

The trend of video calling

Young people, in particular, have used different platforms to maintain and create bonds. And dating apps have changed shape. Video calls have become much more common – they have become an important stop before the face-to-face meeting.

Can help manage anxiety linked to meeting a stranger ea minimize the tendency to idealize potential partners, and thus to avoid disappointment. A video call also allows you to take the time to get to know a partner better, before setting up a meeting. For all these reasons, it is to be expected that the video calling trend will continue in the summer as well.

The fear of Covid

After spending the last year consciously trying to keep my distance from others, however, it will be understandably odd to try to reconnect. According to a survey by the site of matchmaking eHarmony out of 2,000 people, one in four single millennials are worried about diving back into the world of flirting. After a year of the pandemic, people have fear of close contact with others: A third of respondents are worried about the return of hugs and kisses, while a quarter fear they will contract the coronavirus from potential dates.

These barriers to intimacy cannot be magically removed as the restrictions ease. Profiles on online dating sites that mention the word “vaccinated” have increased over the past year, and thesyringe emoticon it has become quite common.

To indicate the “fear of going out again” an acronym has even been coined, Foda («fear of dating again»). In short, it is not certain that, despite the fall of the restrictions, this will be the summer of hedonism and encounters. Not to mention the fact that many single people have suffered noticeable life changes. During the lockdown, there were new opportunities for introspection: if perspectives and priorities have changed, the aspects we value most in finding a potential partner are also likely different.

“Sexual licentiousness”

Yet, in his new book, “Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We LiveYale’s Professor Nicholas Christakis predicts that, after the pandemic, millions of people will search for intense social interactions to make up for lost time. “During epidemics, religiosity increases, people save money, they become averse to risk. We are seeing all of this now, just as it has been for hundreds of years during epidemics, ”Christakis explained to Guardian. But, after the pandemic, according to his forecasts, all of them these trends “will be reversed”. As in the “Roaring Twenties” that came after the Spagnola pandemic of 1918, according to him, there will be a wave of “sexual licentiousness”.