There's a new dating trend in town! It's called micro-mancing, and it's predicted to be massive in 2025.
Being single in the modern era is a tiring thing. Endless scrolling on various dating apps, reading the same copy-and-paste responses on a person's profile and rehashing the same questions when getting to know someone. It really does feel like you're in an endless rat-race of trying to find love.
Thankfully there is a never-ending online dictionary of dating terms to help you understand everything from 'snowmanning' to 'Rebecca Syndrome'. So, what is micro-mancing?
Micro-mancing explained
When you think of the word romance, it's more than likely that grand declarations of love is something which comes to mind.
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Think Heath Ledger's character singing 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' by Frankie Valli to woo a potential love interest in 10 Things I Hate About You, or Mark rocking up at Juliet's front door in Love Actually declare his feelings via a bunch of cue cards (though I think many of us can argue that was more creepy than romantic).
Anyway, love and romance is something that has for a long time been portrayed as something you want to shout from the rooftops, without a care about who might see or hear your feelings.
Well, it's time to forget all of the above entirely, as we're now in the era of the micro-romance.
Unlike the grand gestures of old, micro-mancing focuses around smaller, day-to-day acts such as sending your partner a meme or a song you're particularly enjoying as a way of showing your feelings.
This is backed up by data from dating app Bumble (via Tyla), who recently surveyed 40,000 people and discovered that 86% of participants favoured micro-mancing.
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Feeling romanced is also on the cards for next year, with the survey also noting that 52% of women polled were 'self proclaimed romantics' while one in three admitted that a lack of romance had a 'negative impact' on their dating lives.
Meanwhile the most commonly used prompt on the app was ‘The quickest way to my heart’ suggesting that singletons are becoming more transparent in what they want.
So, how does micro-mancing fit into all of this?
"In today's world, where life is often a whirlwind, people are realising that true romance doesn't need a spotlight,” said Aashmeen Munjaal, a Delhi-based mental health and relationship expert.
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“Grand gestures can feel like rare highlights, but micro-mancing builds an ongoing story of love. It's authentic, personal, and doesn't require the perfect moment—because love, after all, is in the every day,"
This idea was backed up by relationship counsellor Ruchi Ruuh, who added to India Today: "Micro-mance emphasises an ongoing, consistent idea of romance, which is more authentic.
"These acts don't require elaborate planning or significant expense."
Topics: Lifestyle, Sex and Relationships, Dating trends, Bumble
Brenna Cooper