{"id":120958,"date":"2026-02-14T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/welcome-to-the-dating-recession-why-young-americans-are-giving-up-on-love-120958"},"modified":"2026-02-14T08:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T13:00:23","slug":"welcome-to-the-dating-recession-why-young-americans-are-giving-up-on-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/welcome-to-the-dating-recession-why-young-americans-are-giving-up-on-love-120958","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the dating recession: Why young Americans are giving up on love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Remember “Netflix and chill?” About 10 years ago, the slang emerged like a Gen Z mating call:\u00a0“Wanna come over and \u2026 hang out?”<\/p>\n

Maybe it wasn\u2019t the most elegant dating scene, but at least it was a dating scene. According to new\u00a0study\u00a0from the Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, today\u2019s young adults are in a “dating recession<\/a>” \u2014 2026 is all Netflix and no chill.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a02026 “State of our Unions”\u00a0report<\/a>, which surveyed 5,275 single adults between the ages of 22-35, found that only one in three of eligible young adults are actively dating. Nearly three quarters of women (74%) and two-thirds of men (64%) had not a single date, or dated only a few times, in the last year.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s throwing cold water on what\u2019s supposed to be the most sexually charged phase of adult life?<\/p>\n

FOX NEWS POLL: BEYOND RED VS. BLUE, FINDING ME + YOU ACROSS THE POLITICAL DIVIDE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most significant barriers to dating is an epidemic loss of self-confidence among young adults. Only about one in three said they felt comfortable approaching someone they were interested in, and less than 40% said they felt confident in their ability to talk about their feelings with a dating partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not altogether alarming \u2014 vulnerability with a new person is always uncomfortable. Dating has always been a high-risk, high-reward game. What\u2019s more alarming than that fear of intimacy is our finding that only 36% of young adults say they\u2019re confident they can read social cues on dates. They don\u2019t know how to\u00a0be\u00a0with someone else.<\/p>\n

This hints at a bigger cause: kids aren\u2019t just avoiding dates, they aren\u2019t socializing at all. Last year, the\u00a0Institute for Family Studies found\u00a0that the average time young adults spent in person with friends in a given week has fallen by 50% since 2010. Other research has found that American adults are\u00a0spending more time alone\u00a0today \u2014 even post-pandemic \u2014 than ever before.<\/p>\n

American teens spend an average of\u00a0nearly four hours a day on social media\u00a0and even longer on their smartphones generally<\/a>. Is it any wonder that kids buried in a virtual world don\u2019t know how to make eye contact or read body language? You can\u2019t learn to read social cues unless you\u00a0try reading social cues. Maybe Netflix actually\u00a0killed\u00a0the chill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KRISTIN CAVALLARI’S STRICT 6-MONTH DATING RULE SHE FOLLOWS AFTER PAST RELATIONSHIP MISTAKES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt believes so much smartphone use also arrests development of resilience. Young people who don\u2019t take risks don\u2019t learn how to weather failure. Our research found another significant reason (48%) that young people aren\u2019t asking each other out is their fear of repeating a painful past dating experience.<\/p>\n

Still, the \u2018dating recession\u2019 is not for lack of desire. Despite their loner tendencies, 86% of our survey respondents said they hope to get married one day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, at least, is encouraging: our research also suggests married adults, particularly married parents<\/a>, consistently report the highest levels of personal well-being and happiness. Recent\u00a0research\u00a0found married mothers and fathers 18 to 55 are almost twice as likely to be “very happy” with their lives, compared to their single and childless peers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CANDACE CAMERON BURE SAYS \u2018MEN ARE SCARED TO TALK TO WOMEN\u2019 IN TODAY\u2019S DATING WORLD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, if today\u2019s trends continue, at least\u00a0one in three adults\u00a0who are in their twenties today will never marry. That means fewer people will have children, too. A dating recession will make those numbers even bleaker.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

That means more young adults risk the fate of Elizabeth, a charming and ambitious young lawyer living in Texas<\/a>. Elizabeth says she\u2019s always desired marriage, but didn\u2019t prioritize dating in her college years. “I thought, let\u2019s wait until I\u2019m established, and have gotten through my education and I\u2019m settled somewhere long-term for my career before I really look for someone,” she said.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to Elizabeth\u2019s graduation from law school, when she finally came up for air and found that marriage seemed farther away than ever. “Having not been in any serious relationship before, I didn\u2019t really know how to do it,” she said.<\/p>\n

By pop-culture standards, Elizabeth did everything right: she worked hard, built an impressive career, and didn\u2019t get \u2018tied down\u2019 too early. But visiting her sister recently, who took the opposite path \u2014 got married young, and had just had her third baby \u2014 Elizabeth\u00a0said\u00a0she was gutted to realize she\u2019d have given “every dollar in [her] bank account” to have her sisters\u2019 life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This Valentine\u2019s Day, young adults who desire a relationship should embrace the risk. They might not feel particularly confident, but there\u2019s good news: according to our research, neither does anyone else. That\u2019s ok. Love is messy. But it\u2019s what makes life worthwhile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brad Wilcox, author of\u00a0<\/i>“Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization,”<\/u><\/i><\/a> is distinguished university professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies.<\/i><\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM BRAD WILCOX<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/welcome-dating-recession-why-young-americans-giving-up-love <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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