Cuffing Season and Our Epidemic of Loneliness

Members of “the connected generation” feel disconnected from fulfilling relationships. Could their failed attempts to fix that actually be a good sign?

As autumn marches toward winter, a crispness fills the air, the days get shorter, and pumpkin spice gets replaced by peppermint, all while an emotional cocktail of hopefulness, nostalgia, and seasonal affective disorder set into the pits of stomachs. ’Tis the season ... cuffing season, to be exact. For those of you not acquainted with mating habits of the big-city millennial of the species, cuffing season is the time of year when singles feel the particular imperative to “couple up” for the cold months. After all, who wants to show up alone for all those holiday parties, or brave the ice and snow for a first date with ... “Who are you again?” Subscribers, click here to read the full magazine. Not a subscriber? Click here to become a Patriot member today and receive access to The American Spectator in print and online! When the pandemic first broke in March, some moved quickly to find a “quarantine partner” while others were too afraid of the risks and settled in for a long period of digital or “socially distant dating.” As some restrictions eased, the dating scene became a rush not only to find someone for the holiday but also for the coming surge of infections and renewed lockdowns. The website Vice described this year’s early start to cuffing as a “bloodbath” full of additional pressures. The possibility of being quarantined with someone has also raised the stakes on the quality of partner sought in the perennial cuffing. Claire Harmeyer writes in the lifestyle blog HelloGiggles: The search for potential partners is heating up: Amarnath Thombre, the chief executive of Match Group Americas (which owns Tinder, OKCupid, Match.com, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish), told the New York Times that in-app messages were up 30 to 40% on most of the company’s apps compared to this time last year. And according to an internal survey conducted on dating app Hily, 54% of 1,200 respondents say that they are thinking about getting into a committed relationship more often than they did b...