Her events offer an alternative to meeting someone online, focusing on real-life connections. There's one very important rule: no ghosting each other. When Jess Evans was going through a horrible breakup a few years ago, she did what many people do in that situation: downloaded some dating apps. Vowing to ditch the apps for good, Evans thought about other ways to meet someone. Uninspired by the options, she called up a friend and told her she was going to put on her own one-off dating night.
As a journalist with no events experience, Evans worried it would be a flop. But it wasn't. More than singletons looking for love showed up. That was in February , and Evans hasn't looked back. She also met her now-fiancee at one of the events, so she swears by how effective they can be. It's just about getting off the apps and actually getting people in the same space. Many agree that dating apps aren't fun anymore , with Gen Zers in particular rejecting them. This trend has left some apps struggling.
Match also announced layoffs last July. Evans has also noticed people fighting back against the surface-level dating culture that apps promote.
Rather than judging someone on a few photos and a list of vague interests, you get to take them in as a full person. After all, a profile cannot tell you whether you will have chemistry in person. When she was on the apps, Evans said she felt like she was constantly battling against the perfect idea of a woman. The curse of dating apps is that they encourage you to think the grass is always greener, rather than see all of the good traits of the person you're seeing. Some call this the paradox of choice.
One of the biggest lessons Evans has learned is for people to embrace dating outside their "type. Dating apps have led people to shut out people who they could have had a "beautiful relationship with," Evans said, simply because they didn't look exactly right on the surface. There's one golden rule anyone attending a BODA event must follow: ghosting is strictly prohibited. Evans said this basic rule of social interaction has been lost along the way, largely because of dating app culture.
