BBC News, Oxford
Getty ImagesThe founder of a new in-person dating and friendship network has told the BBC he created it because of people’s “huge fatigue” with dating apps.
Almost five million adults use online dating services each month in the UK, according to an Ofcom report released in November.
Mitch, who did not want the BBC to use his surname, established the Date IRL (In Real Life) network in Oxford for people to meet partners and friends.
He said he decided to form the group after “grappling” with how hard it could be to “make friends who are not your colleagues” having left university.
Mitch, who is originally from the American Midwest, told BBC Radio Oxford: “For me personally, no one really prepares you for life after university and when you enter the workforce.
“No one tells you about the magnitude of the shift from when you enter into a nine-to-five job when you’re trying to make friends, you’re trying to have a social life, but also balancing all the rights and responsibilities of being an adult in society.”
He explained Date IRL would involve regular meet-ups, such as pub quizzes, and was as much about finding friendships as it was dating.
Last year’s Ofcom report found that the four most popular dating apps in the UK – Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr – all lost UK users between May 2023 and May 2024.
“I think everyone has a bit of a gripe about how dating apps are superficial and the conversations are very surface level,” Mitch said.
“It leads to this huge fatigue, not anger but in frustration, with the dating app experience.”
Explaining why he created Date IRL, Mitch explained: “In that process from moving away from connecting with people in pubs and out and about with friends, we’ve spun the pendulum too far in the opposite direction.
“As technology is increasingly taking over parts of our life, real people, real places and real connections is going to be something that everybody needs more of.”
The first Date IRL event takes place at The Cape of Good Hope pub in Oxford on 14 June.
