Arguably, dating is in its flop era. The proliferation of apps might give the appearance that there’s plenty of fish in the sea, but often the false security of a digital screen means that people no longer know how to act.
Luckily, for those looking to meet someone IRL, a new initiative in McCarren Park presents a great opportunity. Pique, an NYC-based dating app, has teamed up with local photographer PictureManBob for the Local Love Wall project, which turns the dating app swipe into a more tactile experience.
Here’s how it works: PictureManBob takes a Polaroid picture of you. You write a little something about yourself and what you’re looking for on a notecard, which gets hung up on a wall in McCarren Park. Peruse the wall for any cuties that catch your eye, and McCarren Park passersby will do the same.
Since the start of the summer, Pique has hosted IRL-dating events around Greenpoint and Williamsburg, such as get-togethers at Boris and Horton and Breeze and speed-dating at the McCarren Parkhouse. They launched the app with the hope of restoring some fun and authenticity to what can be the exhaustive process of dating. The model looks a little different from other apps. Users answer a multiple choice question a day (QOTD) and get matched with six people who answered in the same way.
“Instead of spending time swiping, users can use the QOTD to start conversations and spend their time instead, putting more intention into getting to know their matches and turn them into in-person connections if desired,” the Pique team told Greenpointers. “And regardless of how a certain day goes, the user can always come back the next day for a new question and a new set of matches.”
And for any romance skeptics out there, the Local Love Wall has already seen some success. “Participants have shared stories of successful dates, with quite a few moving into their second or third. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’ve even seen actual dates start directly from the wall,” said Pique, noting a similar response to their earlier speed-dating events.
The plan is to keep the wall going through the end of summer. So stop by and see what Cupid has in store for you 😉
Boys and young men are dropping out of the dating seen and work and college and marriage and having kids and just about everything else in record numbers never before seen in modern history.
It has monumental negative demo nuclear winter disaster for all our institutions.
I suggest we fix that first.