Babies born from online romances will soon overtake the number of children born to parents who met offline, according to a new survey conducted with Monash University.
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The Future of Dating report found that in the next 10 years, 34 per cent of all newborns will be "ebabies", being those who are born to parents who met via online dating.
Gone are the days when potential lovers locked eyes across the bar, with just six per cent of couples meeting in pubs or clubs over the last five years.
They are more likely to swipe right on dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Hinge or Plenty of Fish, with a majority of new couples - at 30 per cent - meeting this way, 17 per cent via a mutual friend, 16 per cent at work, 6 per cent at school, while 5 per cent met on other social media.
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"Meeting through technology will increasingly be the norm," the report, co-authored with eharmony, said, "with projections suggesting 2040 as the year when more Aussie couples will meet online than offline".
But despite the predicted trends Tasmanian matchmaker Hannah Cardiff said many singles continue to try their luck with more face-to-face meetings.
The trained matchmaker and dating coach expert launched her new statewide business at the start of 2020 to "help take the stress out of online dating".
She said she was not surprised by the findings but believes that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the popularity of online dating was beginning to wane due to the hard-luck experiences of singles in the online dating world.
She knows too-well the pitfalls of online dating.
Following a shock-split with her husband Ms Cardiff set out to find herself a new beau.
"I started online dating and pretty much everything that could go wrong, went wrong," she said.
"I got love-bombed, ghosted, cat-fished, my time was wasted and I had my heart -broken. I thought 'this isn't the way people should be meeting'. It was like online shopping for humans."
Ms Cardiff said online dating made it easier to meet other singles, but it could be very difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes scary and often disheartening, and so, she just wanted to save people from the awful experiences.
"I had this ambition to change the mentality about online dating, to get people off the apps to go and make real life connections in the real world, but I very quickly realised that online dating isn't going anywhere," she said.
"I still do the matchmaking and organise meeting events, which are crazy successful, but I also offer date coaching to help people with online dating, to get more dates and to have more successful dates."
The practice of matchmaking can be found as a normal part of life across centuries and cultures.
Ms Cardiff said it is very popular in America, with shows such as Millionare Matchmaker and Netflix's Indian Matchmaking, slowly bringing it into the Australian dating scene.
She said it was still a very legitimate way of meeting potential romances, and in her first 12 months Ms Cardiff had gained one couple on her books who have hit the six-month anniversary, while another had just hit three months.
"There were seven first dates that came out of the last matchmaking event, which was amazing."
Top Tips for Daters
Ms Cardiff said she has heard some "absolute shocker" first date, online dating stories, from both men and women.
"It comes down to how you organise your first date. Make sure you are in a public setting, that is really important, and keep alcohol out of it."
EHarmony relationship expert Sharon Draper said if singles want to make a serious relationship via online dating, they needed to think carefully about the type of person they wanted to attract.
"Avoid endless cycles of casual dating by looking for a person who shares your values, personality traits and, most importantly, your goals."