Women are more inclined to make online friends on dating apps than men: Survey

With the social media boom many people have found friends online and that has often translated into friendship if not into a romantic relationshipThere was a time when best friends lived across the street from each other but now distance no longer limits friendships The 2025 version of BFF can exist even through mere textationshipAccording to a new survey conducted by Indian dating app QuackQuack 2 in 7 Indians meet a close friend through online dating apps and maintain the friendship through regular texts and virtual interactionsThe study was conducted the weeks before Friendship Day and 8500 random users between the ages of 18 and 40 were selected to participate It focused on the behavioural patterns of daters that extend beyond romance and the platonic connections formed on dating apps that often develop into reallife friendships Participants came from Tier 1 2 and 3 cities and spanned across various educational and professional fields including IT healthcare and medicine finance sales and marketing art architecture academia administration and moreThe apps founder and CEO Ravi Mittal commented ldquoOur survey showed that about 21 per cent of users find entirely platonic friends online some even replacing reallife friends who are too busy With hectic work social fatigue and frequent moves abroad many lack energy for higheffort friendships Whereas online friendships are loweffort highrewardrdquoThe flag bearer of the trendThe survey shows that GenZ is the biggest driver of this platonic textationship trend with 27 per cent of respondents between 18 and 25 admitting they now regularly text some people they met online and itrsquos purely friendly Millennials were not far behind more than 15 per cent of these daters disclosed making new friends online whom they interact with more than childhood friends This was especially true for those who moved to different citiesAlso Read What is Quantum Dating How this new buzzword is redefining relationshipsMen or women Whorsquos more inclined to itInterestingly women are more inclined to make online friends than men The survey says 3 in 5 female users from Tier 2 and 3 cities shared forming appbased friendships that are entirely platonic Whereas only 1 in 5 male users seemed interested in the same The survey highlighted that many women especially from the smaller cities have limited opportunities for socialising IRL making virtual friends a bigger hit among the lot dating apps double as a platform to meet likeminded people not only romantically but also for genuine friendships The study also revealed that these connections often survive entirely on textationships Men on the other hand seemed more goaloriented primarily and specifically seeking romantic and romancelike connectionsThe skepticsThe younger daters are championing the trend but those users over 35 years are more on guard especially when it comes to awarding someone the tag of best friend Only 7 per cent in this age range expressed interest in making online friends and textationships Most users against the idea cited reasons such as concern over realness missing the closeness and also being too old for digitalonly bonds 38yearold Savitri from Bengaluru shared ldquoI want to meet my friends go to cafes laugh together basing my entire friendship on memesharing and texting wonrsquot cut it for merdquoThe pros and consThe survey says 34 per cent of daters between 25 and 35 explained that platonic textationships that lead to genuine friendships offer more flexibility over traditional ways moreover itrsquos a dream come true for introverts who struggle to make friends as adults Mihir from Kanpur commented ldquoMeeting friends through online dating apps is far better than socialising offline therersquos a lot of time constraint in the latter Can you talk for hours on the first day if this were IRL And when will you meet next Online is more timeindependent and requires minimal effort Plus you can dive into serious discussions on the very first chat therersquos no hard and fast rule that it has to start with hi and hellordquoHowever arguing against the trend 17 per cent of daters from Tier 1 cities said every glittery DM is not gold Platonic textationships have their limitations 4 in 9 of these users revealed that these friendships suddenly start mimicking a romantic connection especially from one side There has been occasional jealousy once they start dating someone else and the intensity of texting the ldquofriendrdquo reduces Shikha 31 a doctor from Mumbai said ldquoI am always pressed for time so textationships friendly or romantic should be my first preference but it still isnrsquot Therersquos always this chance of getting digital burnout I mean without reallife interaction how can I be emotionally invested in a person I feel itrsquos good for people with social anxiety but if you donrsquot have it IRL friendship thatrsquos not relying solely on texts makes more sense to merdquo