Finding Love during Lockdown

Nothing has been quite so complicated during Coronavirus lockdown than dating and it’s been even harder on people who are in relationships but live separately as lockdown rules have meant they haven’t been able to see each other in person – or at least, not within 2m of each other!

Online dating was very popular during the lockdown (I met my now boyfriend on a dating app), but if you’re not sure if you want to give it a go check out this post on the benefits of online dating.

Of course, staying away from potential new partners and current partners has been really hard on a lot of single people and when I reached out to my friends I was interested to hear their thoughts on how things have changed during this hard time.

My friend K has been talking to a man she met on one of the dating websites out there today with the hope of meeting him once the lockdown is over. She has told me that “if it doesn’t work between them the disappointment will be bigger because of the build-up of talking for so long.” she went on to say, “I think we will get used to talking for much longer before we meet”. With lots of guys stating ‘not looking for a penpal’ does this mean it will be less likely to find someone during this time?

N is in a relationship currently but has spent time in the world of dating sites like We Love Dates in the past. N has told me she thinks there will be more pressure put on singles during this time as they will already know so much about someone and be invested before they’ve even met. N went on to say that this “might set yourself up for failure, or on the positive side allows you to get to know someone outside of the physical and become more emotionally connected”.

On June 10th there was an update which many newspapers describe as the ‘end of the Lockdown sex ban in England’ with an announcement coming from the Prime Minister that a new ‘support bubble’ system would be coming into play.

This system means that 2 separate households can join to form a ‘support bubble’ and won’t need to follow the two-metre rule, being able to hug, kiss, share childcare and meals, hang out indoors, stay the night and even have sex. The new lockdown changes are thought to affect around to 8.2 million people across the country.

“Support bubbles must be exclusive, meaning you can’t switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with other households,” Mr Johnson said. He added: “There are too many people … particularly those who live by themselves, who are lonely and struggling with being unable to see friends and family.”

However, this doesn’t apply to everyone – only people living in a single-adult household (or an adult living with people under 18) will be able to meet each other in their homes. Check out this article if you need some date night ideas for staying at home. So a couple with one person living alone could finally see their partner again and join up with their household. Unfortunately, if you both live with other people you won’t be able to meet and have to stick to the original rules.

Although this does sound like progress and that dating might be getting easier, how many single people live on their own? I live with a house mate and can only assume in these times of high living expenses there must be a high proportion of singles will still be held back from meeting new people. Will people behave or will we see more rules being broken so dating can resume?