Last modified: 2022-05-30
Abstract
Love is in the air — and so does the Covid-19. Since March 2020, Covid-19 has changed the dating scene for young adolescent in Jakarta as restriction and lockdown imposed. Numerous public spaces; campus buildings, shopping centers, cafes and restaurants, bars and clubs, museums and galleries — hotspots for youth going on a date — is closed for more than a year. In the mean time, online dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, dan Grindr has become a new medium for date searching. As more youths are drawn into dating apps, the dating activity itself become more challenging and frustrating. Many youth stuck on endless profiles swiping and mundane chatting. Those experience shifts how youth views dating from an exciting meet-ups and romantic weekends to exhausting online interaction and fatigue. In this article, we explore how such shift affects youth views on dating as leisure during pandemic. Focusing dating as leisure and social activity associated with coming-of-age young adolescent in Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi), we look over how ambivalence dating has become when online dating apps mediate dating during 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic. The research based on writer’s reflection on looking for a date in mentioned time and dating apps. Reflected experience is compared with other people accounts from diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and dating history.