By admin 
From Facebook CoronaCrush chats to Jewish single groups dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, and Scruff have encouraged long-distance romance.
Advice For Dating @ A Distance
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, dating apps and platforms faced a conundrum: after years of gaining more and more users, they had to navigate a world where casual hookups became easier. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that when it comes to singles meeting up through dating apps, it’s up to the individual to figure out whether or not they were “willing to take a risk” of contracting coronavirus. Other experts have been much clearer about the dangers of singles meeting up, and New York City’s guidelines even encourage “video dates, sexting or chat rooms” over other forms of intimacy.
During a time where individuals are being discouraged to meet up in person, dating apps, social media users, and matchmakers are readjusting to the reality of quarantine by embracing video chat and long-distance dating — a move that could be a preview of our more cautious post-quarantine lives.
Facebook Groups International Dating Have Sprung Up
On Facebook, two Jewish dating groups, CoronaCrush and MeetJew University Dating, have sprung up since the beginning of global quarantining. Both groups have a significant amount of interest: CoronaCrush has 11,793 members and MeetJew University Dating has 38,884 members, respectively.
On CoronaCrush, users write detailed, often funny, posts vouching for the romantic potential of a friend. In the post’s comments, users tag potential matches and then it’s up to both parties to message one another and schedule a video date.
On the other hand, MeetJew University, which is exclusively for Jewish singles between the ages of 18 and 26, is a bit more sophisticated. The group was co-started by Daniel Ebrahmi and Aaron Raimi. To find a potential prospect, group members fill out a survey and then get matched through an algorithm. They wanted people from a Jewish background to have a safe place to meet one another and possibly help continue the faith when they have families. He confirmed that there has been long-distance dating in the group — a friend based in California was now dating someone quarantined in New York.
“People can get to know each other before being in physical contact which promotes conversations so people can understand if someone is right for them,” Ebrahami said.
Faster Compatibility Checks
Zoom dates could also alleviate anxiety. One CoronaCrush member, who chose to remain anonymous, said that with video chatting, unlike in-person dating, there’s an easy escape. “When you take a girl out on a date, oftentimes in the first few minutes you can feel that the chemistry is off and you’re stuck for the next few hours on a date that you don’t want to be on,” he said.
Florentino*, a CoronaCrush member based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has been frequently video-chatting with Fermina* — a woman from Haifa he met in the group. After they were the only two people to show up to an online book club meeting, they hit it off and started talking privately. Florentino told Insider that he and Fermina have a “a great intellectual connection” and that they “seem to find each other attractive so it’s obviously not just platonic.”
Most apps benefit from long-distant connections because users are encouraged to spend lots of time online. I guess the positive is that To keep their users hooked while abiding by social distancing guidelines, a myriad of dating apps have encouraged long-distance connections.
This article has been adapted from the Online Dating: How Quarantine Has Made Long-Distance Normal article by Insider HERE.