(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Feel like the dating game is taking over your life?

Well it probably is, sort of. It’s likely to be taking up around 16.8% of your life, which is quite a bit when you think about it.

A recent study of 5,000 of 18 to 30 year olds found that millennials are spending ten hours a week trawling through dating apps.

Imagine if we spent that same amount of time working out, or learning a new language, or developing a new skill. We’d be glorious versions of ourselves.


But alas, we put our need to be snuggled up next to another person above our own self-improvement.



Badoo found that it’s men who are the most hooked on dating apps, spend 85 minutes a day on dating apps while women spend 79 minutes a day swiping left and right.

Women tend to log on slightly more frequently than men, however, opening up dating apps ten times a day, while men, on average, open up the apps nine times a day – but spend slightly longer using the app once it’s open. Men’s sessions last around 9.7 minutes, while women browse for 7.6 minutes.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

So while that ten hours may sound like a lot, it doesn’t feel like a massive chunk of time when it’s happening. You spend ten minutes swiping here, another seven minutes swiping there – but it all adds up.

If you fancy cutting down on your swiping time, it’s probably wise to set yourself scheduled dating app slots.

Handily, Badoo’s study found that the best time to use dating apps is Sunday evening at 7pm, as that’s when most people are online and looking for love.

So schedule your swipe time for then, and consider dedicating those other hours to something less bleak than answering the same boring questions from guys who definitely aren’t the one.

If Sunday at 7pm doesn’t work for you, don’t panic, as previous research suggests there are a number of peak times for dating app traffic.

The peak time for both the number of people on both Tinder and OKCupid, AND the peak time for when those people spent the longest time on the apps, has previously been found to be between 9 and 10pm every day. A pre-bed browse might be the way forward.

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