Lifestyle

Cost of living prompts Gen Z to take unconventional approach to dating - and it works

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If you're trying to date in 2025: Good luck to you.

It's no secret that between dating apps and the loss of IRL connection, it's a struggle to find a potential match. Now though, Gen Z are taking matters into their own hands, and sharing their tips online on where all of the good men can be found.

Pair that with the cost of living crisis, and people are actively looking for free ways to secure more potential matches without footing the bill for a date that doesn't lead anywhere.

It's an age-old trick that if you want a 'high value' man (someone with highly-sought-after traits, and probably rather successful) - you need to go where they're going - even if you can't afford it.

It turns out we really are all looking for a man in finance with a trust fund, 6'5, blue eyes.

But if you don't know where they're going, how on earth are you meant to find them?

The women of TikTok are dropping the locations of the best places they've been either asked out by men (because let's face it, sparking up real-life conversation is few and far between these days), or where to find the type of men you might be interested in.

That means you get to skip past the ones you aren't interested in, there's no dating apps involved, and you'll likely just have a good time anyway.

It's a team effort at this point.


@ioanacarmenm

Going out in London🇬🇧 #theconnaught #london #uk

One creator cited London's swanky Connaught Bar as a "good place to meet 'high value' men", while another advised heading over to Mayfair "around 5pm" on a Friday because it's "99 per cent men flooding pubs".

A third even tried to justify their £220 gym membership by hoping it would secure them a date with a banker - a theory that could be promising, as a fellow creator pointed out "the gym on a Friday night" is the "best place" to find men who "have their lives together".

@samanthamoitzi_

i feel a new series coming on. okay let’s get serious with the details: 📍 notting hill, london. 🕰️ 12-4pm on a monday. 👗 wear cute outfit (unsure if it was the pink or the gingham or the trench?) earphones in the entire time, listening to nothing so you can hear when you’re getting waved down or spoken to. 📍 ☕️ nathalie cafe bring: laptop, purchase matcha and sweet treat. 📍 📕 portobello road market, “positive thoughts on portobello road” book stand. #single #dating #londondating #girltok #psa #aussieinlondon #relationship #fyp

"Be alone, be wandering Notting Hill", advised Samantha Moitzi, who claims she was approached three times in the area between 12 and 4pm on a Monday, and added you should "have earphones in the entire time, listening to nothing so you can hear when you’re getting waved down or spoken to".

"I’m married but often asked out in the Waitrose on Marylebone High Street!", one woman chimed in, in the comments section.

Are we in a new era of dating?

Why not read...

Women no longer want a 'man in finance' - the sexiest job is one you wouldn't expect

This dating 'red flag' has got TikTok divided

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