This article was published more than 6 months ago. Some information may no longer be current. Over lunch and thrift shopping in Toronto, Shara Singh marked her one-year anniversary in May, not with a partner but with three new friends. The four came upon each other in an unexpected way, at a speed-dating event not technically meant for dating but for women seeking new friends in adulthood.
Single people are fed up with dating apps and returning to the real world to meet their match. They talked about wresting back time for themselves in the face of constant demands. The four are daughters of immigrant parents, and aging and caregiving weighed on their minds. Together, they got their G1s last winter. Emerging from the fog of the pandemic, Ms. I felt like I was missing that in life. Just Checking In is one in a growing trove of services previously reserved for dating but now focused on a new hunt: finding like-minded BFFs in your adult years.
Platonic speed-dating events, coffee-date marathons and companionship services are proliferating, as are friendship apps and online communities. For women looking to connect while navigating fertility, pregnancy, motherhood or menopause, there is Peanut.
For travellers, there is Skout; for knitters, beekeepers, sushi makers and others with highly specific interests, there is Meetup. And for those in the market for a clique, LMK helps track down compatible packs. Dating platforms are jumping on the friend train, too. Bumble is refocusing on its platonic arm, Bumble for Friends, and recently acquired Geneva, a friendship app meant to foster face-to-face interaction, while Hinge launched One More Hour, an initiative working to stave off loneliness in Gen Z.
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The focus on friendship โ on reconnection โ follows a pandemic that put isolation on our collective radar.
