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The senior citizen hookup scene is going mobile

TEXAS — Mdm Sherry Taylor, 66, says she’s the teenager in her Texas home.

Bloomberg file photo

Bloomberg file photo

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TEXAS — Mdm Sherry Taylor, 66, says she’s the teenager in her Texas home.

Her protective son-in-law insists on driving her to first dates with men she meets online. “He’s very, very particular. He would get their licence plate number, the kind of car they drove,” she said. “We’ve had a role reversal in my house.”

Mdm Taylor took to online dating two years ago after her husband died, and just like millennials today, she needs only to turn to her smartphone to find a potential suitor.

Whether it’s via her profiles on Our Time (a dating site that caters to singles 50 and older), EHarmony, BBPeopleMeet (for the “big and beautiful”) or FarmersOnly.com (for rural residents), Mdm Taylor uses apps and mobile sites on her Samsung Galaxy phone or Android tablet to set up dates. “I don’t keep my laptop out all the time,” she said. “So I like it better on my phone because when I get a message, I usually have it right there in my hand.”

And she’s not alone, said Mr Eric Resnick, a spokesman for the dating site Senior Match. Mobile sign-ups to the site, which has an average user age of 59, have jumped to 20 per cent from just 7 per cent in 2013, he said. Stitch, which has been called the Tinder for seniors because it connects you only with people who like you back, sees almost half of its users arrive via smartphones or tablets, up 10 per cent from six months ago. On Match.com, 49 per cent of users over the age of 50 access the site through mobile devices, a 9 per cent jump from a year earlier.

Mr Ken Solin, a relationship coach for seniors and a dating expert for non-governmental organisation AARP, said many of his clients have begun delving into mobile-friendly dating services. Baby boomers, like everyone else, are spending more time on their phones, he said, and companies are doing a better job designing apps and mobile sites that seniors can easily navigate on the go.

“Initially, online dating was a real challenge for a lot of seniors,” Mr Solin said. “Just posting their profiles: ‘How do you do the photos?’ Now it’s almost like Senior Dating Sites for Dummies. They’ve made it so easy. It’s great.”

While Tinder has become known as an easy way for millennials to hook up with strangers in bars, older players in the online dating game have different needs. Sometimes all they want is the company, and Stitch allows users to specify whether they’re looking for a platonic rather than romantic encounter. “It’s about getting out of the house and doing things,” said Stitch co-founder Marcie Rogo. “Maybe there will be love, maybe there won’t be. But loneliness can kill you if you sit home all day. Eating alone is one of the most depressing things anyone can do. Just not being alone is a success.”

Mdm Taylor particularly likes Stitch because of the site’s stringent safety requirements, which include having to verify your identity before joining the network. The site also facilitates introductory phone calls between its users, in which neither party has to reveal his or her phone number. Mdm Taylor has heard plenty of horror stories from her peers about seniors getting targeted by scammers on dating sites.

Ms Rogo said Valentine’s Day can be especially tough on single seniors, and Stitch has seen an uptick of interest with the approaching holiday.

Back in Texas, Mdm Taylor said she won’t be spending Valentine’s Day alone. She recently made tentative plans to meet up with a teacher she first connected with on one of the dating sites. “We’ll see what happens,” she said. “I’m not even sure it has dawned on him yet that it’s Valentine’s Day.” BLOOMBERG

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