A recent YouGov survey found that 42 percent of adults are currently unpartnered.
No romantic entanglements of any kind.
That seems like a large number.
Almost half of adult Americans are not currently in a romantic relationship?
Even more surprising — shocking, really:
Young people are far more likely to be unpartnered than any other age demographic, with 88 percent of men ages 18 to 24 and 83 percent of women ages 18 to 24 reporting not having a partner.
That’s a hell of a lot of young, single people.
Thinking back on my life, the longest I went without a girlfriend (once I began dating in high school) was about a month.
Maybe two.
When I asked Elysha how often she was without a boyfriend once she started dating, she replied, “Never.”
Perhaps a little too quickly for my liking.
When I was 18-24, I think most of my friends probably would’ve said something similar.
So…
What the hell is going on with young people today?
I understand that some of those 18-24-year-olds in the survey were probably between relationships when they reported being unpartnered, but 88 and 83 percent are considerable numbers to all be unpartnered simultaneously.
I don’t think 88 or 83 percent of my friends were ever unpartnered when I was 18-24.
I don’t think half of my friends were unpartnered at any one time when I was 18-24.
I certainly had friends who struggled to find romantic partners, but most seemed to be romantically linked to someone most of the time.
Has dating collapsed — at least with younger people? Are romantic relationships dying? And if so, why?
What the hell is going on?
