Skip to main content

Episode app has a story of its own to tell about the future of dating

Mr. Big and Carrie on the floor laughing in Sex and the City.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it seems like just about everyone is looking for a fairy tale, or is excited to tell their own. And here to help is Episode, a storytelling network and platform featuring interactive stories built for mobile. To date, 5.5 million users (most of whom are young women) have become authors in their own right, creating some 2.5 billion animated stories featuring original scripts and characters. And every once in awhile, Episode checks in with its fast-growing user base to better understand exactly what kinds of stories they’re interested in telling.

When the app asked about Valentine’s Day, it received 23,000 responses from young women around the nation, and now has a story of its own to tell about the future of dating, from the perspective of Generation Z.

For starters, it looks as though the future of dating lies in apps. Already, a plethora of options abound, including Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. And while it may have been taboo when it first began, it now seems to be the way of the world — in fact, Episode found that 57 percent of respondents had never dated someone they met offline. That means 57 percent of respondents have exclusively dated people they met via an app or dating website. In fact, 50 percent of young women today say they exclusively date online.

Perhaps this penchant for efficiency when it comes to choosing a mate has also led to a general distaste for the hearts and flowers that come along with Valentine’s Day. 63 percent of Episode’s respondents said V-Day was overrated, and nearly 20 percent said they would rather celebrate with their friends (Galentine’s Day) than with a date.

If they do go out on a date, Episode’s data suggests that there’s a 14 percent chance of experiencing a first date on the most romantic day of the year. Conversely, there’s an 8 percent chance of experiencing a breakup.

Of course, you could always look at Valentine’s Day as just another day in the middle of the year. But if you’re looking to turn it into something more, you could turn it into a story by way of Episode.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Twitter CEO claims platform had best day last week
A stylized composite of the Twitter logo.

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted on Monday that despite the current fuss over Meta’s new and very similar Threads app, Twitter had its largest usage day last week.

Subtly including the name of Meta’s new app, which launched to great fanfare last Wednesday, Yaccarino did her best to sing Twitter’s praises, tweeting: “Don’t want to leave you hanging by a thread … but Twitter, you really outdid yourselves! Last week we had our largest usage day since February. There’s only ONE Twitter. You know it. I know it.”

Read more
Meta brings cartoon avatars to video calls on Instagram and Messenger
Meta's cartoon avatars for Instagram and Messenger.

The pandemic was supposed to have made us all comfortable with video calls, but many folks still don’t particularly enjoy the process.

Having to think about what to wear, or how our hair looks, or even fretting about puffy eyes following another bout of hay fever can sometimes be a bit much, even more so if it’s an early-morning call and your brain is still in bed.

Read more
Twitter is now giving money to some of its creators
A lot of white Twitter logos against a blue background.

Some Twitter users are now earning money via ads in the replies to their tweets.

New Twitter owner Elon Musk announced the revenue-sharing program in February, and on Thursday some of those involved have been sharing details of their first payments.

Read more