By /

Danika Mikic

Is Gen Z Swiping Left on Love? Analyzing the Narratives, Engagement, and Cultural Shifts Surrounding Dating and Relationships Among Gen Z

Biography

I’m Danika Mikic (she/her), a fourth-year Professional Communication student at Toronto Metropolitan University, exploring how media and culture shape the way we connect. I’m especially interested in the stories we tell and how they influence identity, relationships, and the world around us. I’m drawn to artistic forms of communication like fashion, music, and dance for their power to express, challenge, and connect through storytelling. I bring passion, curiosity, creativity, and a critical lens to everything I do, grounded in a strong belief that communication can build community and spark real change, online and off.

Details of Project

This research investigates Gen Z’s growing disillusionment with digital dating culture. Once praised as revolutionary tools for connection, apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are now widely critiqued by Gen Z users for fuelling emotional burnout, superficial interactions, and gendered power imbalances. As the first generation to grow up with these platforms, Gen Z is uniquely positioned to evaluate their emotional and cultural impact. Through qualitative content analysis of 50 TikTok videos, ranging from comedic skits to personal testimonials and critical commentary, this study examines how young people narrate and critique their experiences with online dating. Recurring themes include dating fatigue, ghosting, dissatisfaction with hookup culture, quitting narratives, and the romanticization of offline connections. TikTok, Gen Z’s most influential platform, functions as both a reflective and resistive space where users mock, mourn, and reimagine digital intimacy. It serves as a cultural archive of collective frustration, offering space to challenge dominant dating norms and imagine more intentional, emotionally grounded alternatives. Through humour, feminist critique, emotional vulnerability, and authenticity, TikTok becomes a tool for reshaping how love and connection are understood in the digital age. This study asks: How does Gen Z use TikTok to narrate and critique their experiences with online dating, and what does this reveal about shifting attitudes toward love, intimacy, and digital culture? Ultimately, the research captures a generational pivot away from algorithm-driven romance toward more meaningful forms of connection.

Lightning talk

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