{"id":180679,"date":"2026-02-16T22:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180679\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:43:09","slug":"san-francisco-singles-are-ditching-the-apps-for-in-person-speed-dating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180679\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco singles are ditching the apps for in person speed dating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget the tech \u2014 Silicon Valley whizz kids are going old school.<\/p>\n

Bay Area singles are unplugging from dating apps and looking for love in real life after being exhausted<\/a> by \u201cghosting,\u201d dead-end chats and false advertising online.<\/p>\n

A growing wave of \u201capp-athy\u201d is sweeping NorCal and paving the way for in-person connections.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Faight Collective in San Francisco, which is known for having speed dating singles nights and comedy shows. Facebook\/The Faight SF<\/p>\n

Speed-dating events and IRL mixers are seeing a massive surge in popularity in San Francisco, with bachelor and bachelorettes ditching algorithms to pitch themselves on stage in an open-mic setting.<\/p>\n

The Faight Collective, a Lower Haight arts-and-culture hub, hosts gatherings like live comedy dating shows, where singles go through three to five rounds of live dating on stage before an audience.<\/p>\n

A comedian host keeps the banter sharp and the awkward silences short, while the crowd acts as a collective Cupid, cheering for their favorite pairs to decide who walks away with a date.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the world in 2026 is all about meeting IRL, not on dating apps,\u201d the organizers at Thursday said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like in person it is more organic, you get a vibe,\u201d said Sabina Rodriguez, 57, a veteran of the South Bay speed-dating circuit told the Mercury News.<\/a> \u201cThere\u2019s just little quirks you find out by talking. The conversation is more intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just vibes, though. Daters are reportedly fed up with AI-filtered photos, catfishing nightmares and conversations that are dead in the water.<\/p>\n

\"FaightThe Faight Collective in San Francisco comedy dating show Instagram flyer. Instagram\/thefaightsf<\/p>\n

Paul Neuenschwander, a 37-year-old relationship coach, said the apps have essentially become a breeding ground for \u201cdesperation\u201d and \u201cless confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say the US is witnessing a post-pandemic correction. After years of being locked behind screens, Americans are \u201chungry\u201d for human touch.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

According to Stanford professor Michael Rosenfeld, the pandemic added 10 million single adults to the US population \u2013 and they\u2019re not looking for another Zoom call.<\/p>\n

Data analyzed by Eventbrite reveals swipe fatigue is real, seeing over 1.5 million searches for dating and singles events\u00a0on their site in 2024, \u201csignaling a strong desire for in-person connections<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a 24f and have been on hinge in San Francisco for 4 months now,\u201d one Redditor wrote. \u201cITS SO DEAD!\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t delete your online profile just yet though, Rosenfeld warned, because the apps still have the numbers advantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forget the tech \u2014 Silicon Valley whizz kids are going old school. Bay Area singles are unplugging from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,66939,4182,82440,101,103,102,104,106,105,3586],"class_list":["post-180679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-california","tag-dating-apps","tag-metro","tag-online-dating","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}