At a time when Covid is no longer a threat, it's something worthy of celebrating, especially in social gatherings. It is necessary to look at the new forms of interaction and relationships that emerged to fill the void of physical interaction.
Precautionary measures launched by World Health Organization aimed at limiting social gatherings, crowds and close contact, wearing a properly fitted mask, cleaning your hands frequently with alcohol-based hand rub or soap or water, covering months and noses when some cough or sneeze, among others, threatened relationships despite its healthy pretext. These measures, on a certain level, of course, engineered break-ups.
Generally, Covid was not only a challenging period for the countries' economy, but relationships were also touched.
Two years of the pandemic were enough for many people to start rethinking new ways to date and form a relationship online.
One dating app that came into existence during Covid-19 is Bumble, in which users are involved in the virtual means to interact with people at a social distance. According to a Bumble representative, in-app video calls were up by 42% in May 2020 compared to pre-lockdown March.
A study conducted in the US found 2,000 single people under 35-year-olds in which 58% had had virtual sex during the pandemic. Of those, 77% did so with people they never had sex with. The study further found that of 5,000 UK singles, 32% were involved in 'digital intimacy' during the lockdown and after.
Some of these young people were involved in sexual encounters consisting of virtual sex parties, zoom workshops, and engaging in sex-positive communities have proven to be sexually fulfilling and equal to physical intimacy.
"There's a big sexual gratification in being able to watch and be watched," says a respondent.
In the study, a UK-based couple was interviewed and disclosed his first-time encounter of attending a sex party during the pandemic on the Boudoir and Purple Mamba online.
"You are in your house. It is the safety of it. Though it would have taken longer," said a respondent whose names were withheld.
Another research conducted in India conducted on women in India found out that there was a paradigm shift in the dating world. It was found that the dating world is becoming more virtual and has become an integral part of people's lifestyles.
Research revealed that 83 per cent of users were interested in dating online. And 63 per cent of users were anxious about the future, and 70 per cent showed a behavioural change in dating compared to pre- Covid period.
In July 2020, Bumble India started an integrated digital campaign classified with the name 'Love Will Find a Way', a campaign to celebrate the importance of love, hope, and resilience during social distancing times.
Throughout these developments, digital dating platforms have come up those operating in clandestine ways through which married couples or those in steady relationships can fling their fantasies without guilt. Such apps embody Gleeden, a portmanteau of "Glee" and "Eden" or Garden of Eden, in which 'the Gleeden's' can link with each and taste a discreet relationship and try adultery under the highest mode of privacy and secrecy.
Solene Paillet, the company's marketing director, said Gleeden's community welcomes all people of different statuses; married, divorced and singles. Pallet says, "Glee and Eden allow the first extramarital dating website for married people to taste adultery."
Still, experts argue sexual intimacy encountered via digital means has many satisfaction loopholes compared to physical touch. "You can't create an orgy online," said a respondent.
According to Tiffany Field, the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, touch stimulates pressure receptors under the skin, triggering a chain reaction and slowing nervous systems.
She says, "The heart rate slows down, blood pressure slows, and brainwaves change, which is a relaxation state."