Gen Z dating trends bring canon events and emotional layovers into play

MUMBAI: Dating has entered its plot-twist era. While ghosting, situationships and breadcrumbing have become familiar fixtures of modern romance, Gen Z is now putting names to a new set of dating behaviours that are less toxic, but just as telling.

A recent survey by dating app QuackQuack, conducted among more than 10,000 active users aged 18 to 28 across metros, suburban and rural regions of India, has identified three emerging patterns, the canon event, emotional layover and dial-toning. The respondents were drawn from varied professional backgrounds, with an equal split between men and women.

QuackQuack founder and CEO Ravi Mittal said the new terminology reflects how dating behaviours are evolving, with not every trend necessarily being toxic.

The first trend, the canon event, describes a relationship or match that people knowingly enter despite believing it may not last, because the experience itself feels important.

More than 3,945 respondents aged 23 to 28 said they had experienced at least one such match. Nearly 4 in 10 women said they had dated someone knowing the relationship would probably be temporary because they either needed to feel loved at that point or believed the experience would teach them something.

Among men in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, 27 per cent said they had matched with people completely opposite to their personalities to understand their own dealbreakers. Some also said they chose passion over stability because they wanted to experience the connection even if it was short-lived.

Then comes the emotional layover, perhaps the more bittersweet stop on Gen Z’s dating map.

Around 37 per cent of participants over 25 said some matches temporarily occupied emotional space during periods of loneliness, vulnerability, major life transitions or personal crises. The connection could feel intimate and genuine, but was often understood as temporary.

Around 22 per cent of singles said recognising the pattern was important to ensure an emotional layover did not become a recurring dating habit. Meanwhile, 5 in 10 users said they genuinely cared about the person but needed temporary emotional support, while 4 in 10 admitted they had knowingly become someone else’s emotional layover after recognising that the other person needed care.

The third trend, dial-toning, keeps the romantic line technically open without actually taking the relationship anywhere.

More than 45 per cent of daters from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru said the behaviour is gaining traction, particularly in busy Tier 1 cities. Instead of completely walking away from a match that did not work out, people maintain a small signal of availability, perhaps by watching stories, occasionally reacting to posts or dropping a random emoji.

Among respondents aged 18 to 26, 55 per cent admitted to dial-toning someone for months, although they said they stopped once they recognised the behaviour. Another 19 per cent of daters above 26 said they had done the same because the timing did not feel right for taking the relationship forward and they were waiting for a better moment.

Together, the three trends suggest that Gen Z’s dating vocabulary is becoming more nuanced. Not every unfinished connection is ghosting, not every temporary relationship is a situationship, and not every lingering digital interaction is breadcrumbing.

Sometimes, it is simply a chapter people know will end, a temporary emotional pit stop or a connection left on just enough standby to see whether the timing changes.