So, You All Used Tinder 50% More During Iso and Met Up on "Animal Crossing"

How many times did you swipe right?

The coronavirus pandemic has had an enormous impact on the way we go about our day-to-day lives. Students had to learn remotely from home, restaurants could only offer takeaway food and cinemas were forced to shut their doors.

In fact, if you're in Melbourne, Stage 3 lockdown restrictions are still in place. Plus, masks have been made mandatory to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

However, we can all agree that self-isolating and social distancing had a massive impact on one particular area of life: dating.

With limitations on the number of people you could gather with outside your household, there was simply no way that we could schedule any cute dates.

Except, there was always the possibility that you could meet someone on Tinder during iso and catch up with them after. Plus, we had way more time to chat to our potential bae while stuck at home.

That's why it's not entirely surprising that the number of messages sent on Tinder during quarantine reached soaring new heights.

Data released by Tinder revealed that, in Australia, the most messages were sent on 10 April, with Tinder members sending an average of 57 per cent more messages compared to the start of lockdown in early March.

Additionally, Gen Z users sent an average of 70 per cent more messages, which was way more than people aged 26+. Swipe volume among Aussies under 25 was also up 50 per cent at its peak.

The fun doesn't end there. With no one being able to go on dates in person, people took to Nintendo's Animal Crossing to explore whether they had some chemistry or not.

Early quarantine saw a 5x increase in Animal Crossing mentions in Tinder profile bios, particularly from Gen Z members.

Of course, everywhere has different restrictions, so Tinder has introduced a face-to-face video function, so at least you'll soon be able to see someone when you call them.

The app is also going to allow you to add prompts and interests to your profile, to make it easier to match with somebody based on your similarities. On top of that, they're lifting global restrictions within the app so you can connect with people all across the world.

Now, get back to swiping.