How to Plan the Perfect Virtual Date

By Alex Schmidtke

As we all know, meeting someone new during a pandemic can be hard. Whether it be a friend or a significant other, it is hard to become close with someone that you cannot meet within an intimate setting. Despite these difficulties, there are plenty of ways to still interact and really get to know somebody, thanks to technology.

Now, you may be wondering, how do you meet someone during a pandemic in the first place? Luckily, there are plenty of options. While you may not be able to meet someone new in class, at a party, or maybe even at work at the moment, there are plenty of dating apps that can help with this. Perhaps the two biggest dating apps that everyone knows about are Tinder and Bumble. Both of these apps are great options and have a large number of users with the ability to change your preferences. Bumble is especially great for women, because they get to send the first message (this means no creepy pick-up lines or spamming messages for attention).

As for creating plans with the person you met, this can be tricky. It is important not to pressure them into making plans for a virtual date immediately. Bennett, a freshman studying aerospace engineering at Iowa State, met his girlfriend online and has been going on virtual dates with her for the last three months.

“For my dates, I mainly use Zoom and we typically watch movies using the Disney+ group feature,” Bennett said.

Next up is deciding on what you and your potential love interest will do during your date. While it may seem limited, there are plenty of options. Both of you could cook or order something to eat together over your call.

“Being able to FaceTime everyday over quarantine helped us stay together and strengthen our bond,” said David, a fellow college student about how virtual dates with his girlfriend of nearly three years have gone throughout quarantine. “The fact that we can do everyday activities while seeing each other’s faces makes things much easier.”

At the end of the day, the pandemic has made the dating scene much harder than it used to be.