Gen Z, The Gentle Generation Rejecting Hook-ups, Dating Apps and Risk

Generation Z, defined as those born between 1995 and the mid-2000s are starting to look more than a little Victorian in their behaviour and habits.
We might well label them ‘the gentle generation’ because they’re definitely not as wild and crazy as either Millennials or Generation X.
These kids may have been raised practically entwined in the cables of all the tech they’ve been exposed to, but research reveals that they’re not engaging in the risky behaviours their parents feared they might.
They’re drinking less alcohol than Millennials did, they’re not having as much sex as previous generations and they’re staying at home – a lot.
The findings report that whilst teens in the past were quite likely to have tried alcohol by 8th grade, today’s teens aren’t nearly as interested and the percentage of those who’ve tasted a drink or two has declined by 59%.
Dating has dropped too – in 1976, around 85% of high-school seniors were regularly fating but by 2014 that figure had dwindled to around 58%.
So where does this leave dating apps like Tinder? Will Generation Z simply reject them? Or are savvy entrepreneurs already responding to the needs of this quiet and sensitive generation?
When Whitney Wolfe Herd floated Bumble this year, it was already understood that her take on what makes a great dating app was wildly different to her competitors.
Bumble, unlike Tinder allows women to make the first move which helps to ensure that women are not bombarded with unwanted attention or messages. There’s also AI in place to ensure unwanted nude photographs are flagged and removed.
It’s possible that Wolfe Herd’s achievements were in some part inspired by her experiences as one of the cofounders of Tinder. She hit the headlines when she filed a lawsuit against Tinder naming Sean Rad and Justin Mateen in her allegations of sexual harassment and bullying.
, an Iranian-American technology entrepreneur has had his fair share of controversy but the Wolfe Herd case was one which perhaps drew most attention due to the nature of the accusations.
Rad continued to work with Tinder even after settling out of court with Wolfe Herd.
But what of the other young women following in Wolfe Herd’s footsteps? How are they addressing the issues raised by the creator of Bumble?
Well, there’s Clementine Lalande who launched an app called Pickable in 2018. Pickable is designed to give women much more privacy than Tinder does – there’s no need to upload a photograph or even give a name before browsing men’s profiles anonymously.
Lalande has already worked out that women value privacy; it equates to safety and she’s provided a way for them to enjoy online dating without feeling vulnerable.
If we’re going to look at Generation Z and try to work out which app they’d choose, well it stands to reason given the fact that they’re private, sensitive and engaged in less risk-taking behaviour than previous generations, it’s probably not Tinder!