Now here’s an interesting consequence of the Coronavirus – singles are coping with the lockdown by engaging in sext-only relationships, with no intention to ever actually hook up. Via VICE:

Cut off from the world during COVID-19, people have been taking their casual relationships digital. For some that means sexting with friends. For others it means sharing nudes and dirty messages with folks they’ve met on dating apps. While those conversations can be a fun escape from the everyday horrors of this time period—and a necessary outlet for pent up sexual frustrations—it doesn’t mean the online hookups will translate into future corporeal escapades. For some people the fact that sex remains purely digital is the whole appeal.

Dating apps have changed our relationship to intimacy in general, but the conditions of the pandemic have exacerbated the gap between only courtship and physical interactions. Tinder currently lets users set their location to anywhere in the world. That feature has meant people are flirting with folks thousands of miles away. With many borders closed for the foreseeable future, it has inevitably led to sexting between people who have never met and probably never will. For Australian software engineer Jane Vincent the feature allows for some fun to rally against the pandemic’s monotony.

“Of course it’s not practical to entertain thoughts of actually hooking up with Ashton from Brooklyn or Geert in Rotterdam… I think now, especially, people understand it’s all just fantasy and that’s fine. Sexting just feels like a way to pass another quiet evening in, or provides a funny story to tell my friends later. Being able to talk to men all over the world has been interesting, but also kind of proved men on Tinder are the same everywhere.”

What do you think? Would you ever consider a sexting relationship with no promise of actually physically hooking up? We’re generally of the mind that chatting should be quick and decisive with the main goal of an in-person date, but strange times call for strange relationships, we guess! Don’t forget – with a VIP membership to OBC, you get unlimited messaging, free!