Australians Reveal When They’re Most Likely to Ghost a Date

Romance is confusing. Add dating apps into the mix and very few of us have any idea of what’s going on.

Thankfully, Telstra and Pedestrian.TV (our sister site) have done a little investigating to help us navigate this space a little more effectively.

They paired up to pull together a dating report, Love at First Type, and along the way, discovered that there are a bunch of unwritten dating rules that Aussie singles tend to follow.

Here’s what you should know about the Australian dating scene right now

Almost everyone is on a dating app

Remember the days when looking for love online was considered a last resort? And most people who used this means of dating would lie about it?

That couldn’t be further from the modern dating experience. According to data sourced by Telstra and Pedestrian.TV, a whopping 70 per cent of respondents (1,259 people aged 18-34 years) would be happy to openly share they met their partner online.

Tinder was found to be the most popular platform for meeting an SO, but interestingly, Instagram and Facebook were the second and third most popular apps for meeting a partner – ahead of other dating services.

Shoutout to sliding into those DMs.

“Dating and technology go hand-in-hand,” said Alex Bruce-Smith, Deputy Editor, Pedestrian.TV in a statement on the report.

“Who hasn’t researched a prospective partner before meeting up, or spent a few minutes swiping left in the hope of finding that one person to swipe right on? ‘Tinder shame’ – a.k.a. the awkwardness of admitting you met on a dating app – is a thing of the past.”

Here’s the deal with ghosting

If you’re living in the modern age, chances are you know what the term ghosting means. But in the off chance that you missed this lesson in dating, allow me to offer a brief explanation.

To ghost, in essence, is to cut communication with someone you have had some form of contact with (be that online chatting or physical dates) by not responding to their attempts to reach out to you. It’s pretty shitty in most cases, but according to the report, Aussies are not all that against it.

The study found that nearly two-thirds of Aussies think it’s ok to ‘ghost’ someone, generally. Brutal.

When it comes to chatting online, 44 per cent of respondents said they thought ghosting was a-okay (this is with the caveat that you haven’t met IRL). Where Australians tend to have a little more sympathy is when you’ve met your date in person. In the case where you’ve physically caught up with someone in the outside world, 84 per cent of Aussies believe ghosting is poor form.

Moving over into official dating territory, the general attitude towards using technology for breakups was… interesting.

A phone call is widely preferred for a break-up (by 52 per cent of respondents), followed by FaceTime at 41 per cent. Breaking up over text or email was unsurprisingly unpopular, with only 18 per cent and 3 per cent of Aussies believing this is an appropriate choice, respectively.

All in all, the report found that technology plays a huge role in modern dating. More than we may have assumed. But that doesn’t mean respect and common courtesy go out the window.

So, try not to ghost your dates, and do your best not to break up with your partner over email, yeah?