Right now is the time to get yourself up off the couch and head directly to the closest computer. It’s just imperative that, if you’re single and want to close this chapter of your life by getting partnered up, you set up an online profile now. RELATED: 6 Words Everyone’s Using On Their Dating Profiles Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic According to statistics, it’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s where singles take to online dating sites in the hopes of finding the one. But why this particular time of year? As psychologist Dr. Wiebke Neberich explains, “During the holiday, singles get a chance to truly consider their private lives. This motivation is reinforced by Christmas, which in celebrating love and the family rekindles people’s interest in finding a solid partnership. It’s unsurprising that so many singles put their New Year’s resolution into practice by trying online dating.” Well, of course! Who doesn’t want to try to procure someone to kiss on New Year’s Eve or get the chance to add yet another person to their already-long list of gifts to buy next Christmas? Whatever the individual reason may be, Elite Singles, a UK online dating service, found a 35 percent rise in new memberships after Christmas, “peaking around the New Year and slowly returning to normal in January.” While this only includes data from Europe, the same holds true for those singles living in the States. According to Today, Match.com “sees a 25 to 30 percent increase in new members registrations between December 26 and February 14,” with the ultimate peak on January 2. RELATED: 7 Steps To Continue Dating Safely & Find Your Soulmate In The Time Of Coronavirus Photo: Elite Singles It’s also estimated that with the economy on the upswing, more and more singles are looking for love as their focus on money becomes a little less necessary than it has been in the past few years. If the increase of singles getting online and looking for love last year was 35 percent, then there’s no telling how much more it will rise this year. Forty percent? Forty-five percent? Even a 50 percent rise means a 50 percent greater chance of you getting lucky playing the online dating game. Of course, these numbers are just speculation on the part of a woman who’s bad at math, but we do know for sure that the number is bound to increase, and singles of the world can only benefit from it. Not to sound like your hometown low-budget car dealership commercial, but what are you waiting for? It’s not very likely that love is going to show up at your door while you’re sitting on the couch in your pajamas watching The Princess Bride for the millionth time, so do something about it. Get online and weed through the creeps to find your main squeeze. Everyone else is doing it this time of year, so succumb to peer pressure on this one. It’s one of the few times where it’s cool to do so. RELATED: How Dating Will Be Forever Changed By COVID-19 Amanda Chatel is a New York-based lifestyle writer with a focus on sex, relationships, sexual health, women’s reproductive rights, feminism, and mental health.
