Hinge Study Shows Memes are the Most Popular Way to Show Affection

A new user survey from Hinge found that memes were fast becoming the best way to show affection for a match, as well as to display your personal sense of humor.

Almost three-quarters of the 2,000 users Hinge surveyed said they used memes to find out if they share a sense of humor with a match, and 60 percent said they want to get a sense of someone’s “meme humor” before going on a date, according to Mashable.

A vast majority – 93 percent – say that memes reveal a potential partner’s sense of humor, and almost as many consider a shared sense of humor an important factor in a relationship. And if you are worried about what meme to send or what someone’s sense of humor is like, don’t stress: 36 percent of daters said they feel more interested after receiving a meme from someone, even if they don’t think it’s funny.

Humor has always played an important factor in determining if someone is right for you, but memes are an interesting way to express it, more than saying you want a match “who likes to laugh.” Instead of including some jokes or clever phrases in your chats, memes have become a preferable way to communicate your humor and personality to a match.

According to Mashable, Hinge’s director of relationship science Logan Ury says there’s a scientific reason why we crave humor in our relationships. "When we laugh, our brains release a happy cocktail of hormones that increase our levels of trust, lower our levels of stress, and make us feel more relaxed. The dopamine hit from laughing reinforces our behavior and makes us want to go back for more."

In addition to humor, self-care and mental health awareness are emerging as other important factors in dating app searches. Gen Z daters say that being able to talk about mental health with their matches and doing self-care rituals like meditation and therapy are very important to them, and they are popularizing this trend for daters of all ages according to the latest study from Hinge’s sister app Tinder.

In fact, 93 percent of Hinge users prefer to date someone who’s emotionally vulnerable, so humor isn’t the only factor that people look for if your meme game isn’t strong.

Ury added this advice for singles according to Mashable: "Focus on the things that really matter in a long-term partner: someone who’s loyal, emotionally stable, and brings out the best side of you.”