Why Baby Boomers are turning to retro directories like AdultFriendFinder to skip the swiping games

As the divide between older and younger generations continues to dictate everything from politics to entertainment to social media, one thing should be obvious: Baby Boomers, those born between 1948 and 1964, aren't ready to go quietly into retirement or hand the reins to today's youth. In fact, many of them are keeping things fresh by rekindling their romantic flames. According to Pew research, a massive 20 percent of Boomers have tried dating apps, and they spend just under 40 minutes a day trying their luck at the dating game.

Don't expect to find the Baby Boomers on Tinder, though. For long-term dating, the Boomers are more likely to use age-appropriate dating services like OurTime or SeniorMatch, or larger, more general-purpose dating sites like eharmony, according to Axios. 

But there's an entire cohort of older daters who aren't focused on finding a long-term partner but still want to connect, and they're increasingly doing so on retro dating platforms such as AdultFriendFinder. 

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Credit: AFF

AdultFriendFinder

 

Here's why these services are winning back the Boomers:

No swiping games

Even senior citizens are feeling the burnout from swipe fatigue. In fact, according to research by Forbes Health, around 69 percent of Baby Boomers are experiencing frustrations with apps, particularly due to their "inability to find a good partner." We feel their pain — we're all for the swiping game, but you do ultimately want a result.

But what happens when you ditch the swiping mechanic entirely? The AdultFriendFinder experience doesn't rely on a matchmaking system, though it does offer one. Instead, AdultFriendFinder creates organic communities in chat rooms, discussion boards, story comment sections, and webcam rooms, where you can initiate a conversation with someone who catches your eye or impresses you with their writing, or you can be the one attracting others.

For Boomers tired of endlessly swiping with minimal results, retro dating directories such as AFF are an effective alternative.

Large Boomer representation

Dating sites and apps typically cater to a younger crowd, for the obvious reason that younger people are more likely to be single, but that can make life tough for older daters looking to match with people in their age range or generation. That's why apps such as Tinder skew younger than Boomers. It's a young(er) person's game.

AdultFriendFinder has been around since 1996, when the youngest Boomers were in their early 30s. The site has managed to retain or recapture a sizeable cohort of older singles, so you'll actually find results when you set your age filter to 55+, particularly if you live in a well-populated city.

AdultFriendFinder has been tight-lipped about its exact user demographics, but my current Online Now page gives a good representation of what you can expect to find in a large metropolitan area in North America: out of 12 featured profiles, six are over the age of 40, four are over the age of 50, and two are over the age of 60. 

Bare naked honesty

One major issue with dating apps, regardless of the age group, is how difficult it is to accurately assess other people's intentions — to know exactly what people want from their dating app connections. In a landmark article from earlier this year titled "Dating Burnout: Why the Apps Exhausted Everyone," the authors identified "evaluation labor" as a major causal factor. Does the person you're talking to really like you? Do they really want "something serious" or are they secretly chasing something casual? It would save a whole bunch of time and effort if we just got straight to the point.

If you've spent any time on Hinge, Bumble, or any of the popular dating sites like eharmony or PlentyOfFish, you know that people aren't always fully honest or straight-up about their intentions. In some cases, it's because even they don't know what they want. 

But AdultFriendFinder is a major exception. Users are encouraged to be totally transparent, so much so that it's entirely common to come across full frontal nudity in profile photos or extensive lists of kinks and turn-ons. For the generation that basically invented the Summer of Love and pushed the envelope of sexual freedoms, there's a lot of appeal in this naked honesty. 

Paid memberships filter out unserious daters & bots

The free dating apps definitely have a lot to recommend them, but there's a sneaky benefit to using a paid dating service like AdultFriendFinder: it's easier to filter out fake accounts or unserious daters. 

Sure, it's free to create an AFF account, but if you actually want to talk to people one-on-one, you need to upgrade to a paid subscription, and that extra step filters out many half-committed daters and would-be scammers. And considering approximately one in six Boomers has fallen victim to an online romance scam, this built-in filter adds some serious peace of mind.

In the end, the Baby Boomers are just as susceptible to swipe fatigue as the rest of us, and they're actively looking for a more community-based approach to online dating. AFF is a great place to do that.

COntributer : Mashable https://ift.tt/RuHAljS

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