As Gen Z ditches online dating and millennials struggle to recapture the golden days of social media, dating apps are helping older singles to redefine the feel of connection in the digital age. Much of the rise in older singles joining apps has to do with “the shedding away of stigma about dating later in life,” says Justin Garcia, a sex researcher and executive director at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute. In only a few decades, North America has undergone “massive shifts” in courtship patterns.
Garcia says one particular shift is the result of what he has termed “reverse intergenerational transmission” Where the flow of family or social customs is typically top down, with online dating it is bottom up. “We have generational transmission of information and knowledge, but what we are seeing in dating is the reverse. Kids and grandkids are putting their parents…
