BY
WAFEEQA SULAIMAN

DEPUTY EDITOR

Hype Issue #78

Published on

Dec 05

2025

WAFEEQA SULAIMAN explores how swipes and situationships are redefining love for a new generation of Singaporeans.

Welcome to the era of situationships! The grey area of being something more than just friends but definitely less than lovers. In this phase, 

People don’t date, they “talk”. 

They don’t commit, they “go out”. 

And eventually, they don’t break up, they “drift apart”.

For many Singaporean youths this has become the new norm, with dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, and Coffee Meets Bagel replacing the slow burn of handwritten letters and late-night calls with a simple swipe. But as “situationships” rise and ghosting becomes the norm, it’s worth asking: have dating apps made it easier to find love, or made it harder to believe in?

How Dating Apps Work (and Why That Matters)

Modern dating apps are built to be addictive and to make you keep coming back. A 2024 article by The Guardian talks about how dating apps have been likened to gambling products designed to keep customers hooked. Some dating apps run as freemium models where even basic features, like viewing who liked your profile, need to be paid for. Essentially, if users pay more, they gain access to a wider pool of potential partners and an increased probability of finding a match.

According to a 2024 YouGov survey, one in four Singapore residents has been on at least one dating app, with Gen Z and Millennials being much more likely to have used them compared to Gen X and Baby Boomers. But interestingly, not everyone is looking for “the one”. On Tinder specifically, many users admit they prefer social dating over looking for a long-term relationship.

Now, this got me thinking. Did the dating apps change us, or did our concept of love change first?

The Cultural Shift Behind Modern Dating

Relationships in Singapore used to be shaped by long-term commitment, family expectations, and marriage as a life milestone. Today, that narrative is more fluid. Instead of meeting through school, work, or mutual friends, youths now choose to meet (or not meet) potential partners entirely on their phones.

According to Joanne Ng, Founder of Table for Two Asia, this shift runs deeper than just swiping and ghosting. She pointed to a factor often overlooked: many 18–25-year-olds today came of age during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The lockdowns and circuit breakers fundamentally disrupted how they form in-person connections,” Ms Ng explained.

“For a critical period, their social world was largely digital, which has inevitably impacted how they navigate relationships, including romantic ones,” she shared.

Since our generation built large parts of our social life online, it does make sense that dating has shifted there too. However, the impact of this is not as straightforward.

The Emotional Toll on Youths

A 2024 survey by the Institute of Policy Studies found that there has been a shift in priorities among Singapore’s youth. Health, career aspirations, and financial stability have been identified as more crucial than dating and marriage.

So, when dating does happen, apps are often the first place youths turn to, as meeting online feels more accessible and less daunting. But there comes a problem with this. Forming more connections does not necessarily mean they are quality ones.

“The connection quality is frequently superficial. You might match, exchange a single ‘hi,’ and then they vanish. This questions the authenticity of the connection from the very start,” Ms Ng noted.

Essentially, what starts as excitement ends up turning into emotional fatigue. For some, every ‘ghost’, every dry reply and every failed “talking stage” chips away at their confidence. In fact, a 2025 article by Psychiatric Times reported that 44 per cent of survey respondents said ghosting had long-term effects on their mental health, from lowered self-esteem to decreased trust in relationships. Instead of feeling hopeful, youths end up feeling exhausted before they’ve even had the chance to experience real love.

Do We Even Know What Love is?

Well, in a landscape where dating feels fast, disposable and algorithm-driven, youths are still in the phase of figuring out what love actually means.

​​Ms Ng believes a core issue is that many youths lack a grounded, real-life reference for love. “The concept feels abstract and distant, often shaped by the grand gestures of K-dramas or Hollywood rather than everyday reality,” she said.

Love isn’t something that just appears instantly like what we see on a screen. As Ms Ng puts it,  “A healthy romantic connection is almost always founded on the principles of a good friendship”. She shared that the most profound lessons of love actually come from much closer to home, in the way our family and friends support us, care for us, and make us feel safe.

What The Future of Dating Looks Like
                 
Well, dating apps don’t seem to be going away any time soon. So, the real challenge for Singaporean youths is navigating through them safely and without losing sight of what real connections look like. As Ms Ng shared, this means protecting yourself on dating platforms, setting boundaries and being intentional, as not everyone you come across would have the same sincerity or expectations.

Dating apps may not have completely ruined the concept of love among youth, but they have definitely played a part in changing up the dating scene in Singapore. Though it may be easier to meet people online, building something meaningful with them may have become more difficult.
At the end of the day, a dating app can help match you with a potential partner, but what makes or breaks it is if you are willing to slow down a little, take a step back and find out what love really means to you first.