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You and Yours: True love, Tinder cheats, sugar babies

31/12/2018

True love, Tinder cheats, sugar babies

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, True love, Tinder cheats, sugar babies

How technology has changed the dating scene forever - and how to cope with that.

January is the most important month in the dating calendar. Many of us will head online or onto apps in the search for true love.

The biggest month in the dating calendar is beginning. In recent years technology has changed how we find a mate forever. But our research suggests that many people who are online or using mobile phone apps do not end up going on dates at all. Are we getting fed up of dating? Or is it that we are getting too caught up in the search? Melanie Abbot discusses with the dating historian Zoe Strimpel and the researcher Elizabeth Tinnnemans, who has found that as many as one in five tinder daters are already in a relationship.

We examine the booming dating industry and ask if it is delivering on its promise. As Facebook is getting into the dating business, we find out how careful they will be about the personal data that you share whilst dating online or on an app. 

Dating danger is a major concern - last year over three thousand five hundred romance frauds were reported to Action Fraud, an average of 10 a day.  The real figures are likely to be far higher because people are reluctant to report such crimes. We take a look at the murky world of "catfishing" and wonder if cynicism about dating has led to the phenomenon of "elevated dating". Melanie Abbott talks to two young "sugar babies". Duncan Cunningham of the Online Dating Association tells us how they deal with it all and what you can do to stay safe.

But we won't lose sight of what dating is supposed to be about. We follow the fortunes of newly single Chris, who hasn't dated in almost twenty years. We'll hear from a group of people aged seventy seven to ninety five about how they found true love - without technology. And relate-trained counsellor and agony aunt Suzi Hayman will have her top tips for tackling the modern dating scene.

Presenter: Melanie Abbott
Producer: Olive Clancy

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