One in five UK adults say they are single and have stopped dating, as the modern dating landscape shifts, according to a new report. The research forms part of Guardian Advertising’s annual lifestyle trends report showing six shifts in how the nation is living.
Shift Happens 2024 reveals that almost two-thirds (60%) of those who have hit the pause button on love are women.
People are making romantic connections in new ways, with some opting out completely as a reaction to the chaos of the modern dating landscape; a shift Guardian Advertising have dubbed “chaos celibacy”.
One research panellist said: “I’m quite happy now to be my own love of my life. Make myself happy. Take myself out.”
Challenging traditional normality’s, the survey revealed a rise in two seemingly opposing relationship choices – celibacy and polyamory. Big business is also taking sexual freeness seriously. High street retailers like Holland & Barrett or Boots stock vibrators as well as multivitamins; Feeld – the app for alternative dating – doubled its turnover in a year.
With an audience of 13 million ‘romantics’, the Guardian’s sex, dating and relationship journalism had 44 million page views in the last year alone, covering trends like going boysober, living apart together, ethical non-monogamy and hypergamy. These topics consistently rank among the Guardian’s top 10 most-read articles. Despite the complexities of modern relationships, the desire for connection and the dream of finding ‘the one’ remains strong.
Shift Happens also reveals that 60% of the Guardian’s audience for this journalism are men – challenging the idea of dating and relationships as a ‘women’s space’.
Five further lifestyle shifts unveiled in the research include: how we’re reclaiming our brains with lo-fi health hacks; how we’re all foodies; the dawn of memespeed pop culture; a reframing of holiday choices from destinations to goals; and what amateur detectives tell us about trust in the media.
Imogen Fox, chief advertising officer, Guardian Media Group, said: “This research reveals a UK determined to find joy when the big picture feels overwhelming: an optimistic story that we hope will be inspiring to our advertisers.”
Shift Happens is powered by a diverse and nationally representative survey of 1,500 adults across the UK with research partner QuMind, alongside intimate focus groups; rich first party audience insights drawn from Guardian journalism; and Guardian Voices, a proprietary research panel of 6,000 readers.
To find out more, download a copy of the Shift Happens 2024 report here.
