China: Youth struggling with loneliness find friends by chatting with dating apps, online-virtual parties

China's youth are struggling against loneliness. Due to the strict lockdown due to Corona, the youth have been imprisoned in their homes for a long time. Due to the lack of apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, the youth of China are dependent on social media. Millions of young Chinese are now making friends through dating apps.

People refer to it as third place or third place. Because it shows the youth a virtual world apart from work. Meeting each other here does not mean finding a life partner but meeting like minded persons. These youngsters do more online chatting. Very few young people meet face to face. There are currently 275 dating apps in China. There has been a 239 percent jump in these apps since 2017. In 2017, there were 81 such apps.

Dating app companies are experimenting with new trends. Tencent is working on a virtual party game in its dating app. It will allow people to meet socially without leaving their homes. Zhao (25) believes that there are multiple options on these apps. Due to this option you will meet someone who will understand you more. According to a survey, 33 percent of people using this app are between 13 and 32 years of age. 89% of users use dating apps to enhance social networking.

Dating apps survived the communist government's crackdown

The Chinese government cracked down on several app-making tech companies last year, but dating apps escaped the crackdown. That's because dating apps don't just aim to get people to date. The progress of Chinese society is considered an important goal in these apps.