Romance during lockdown: How are Brits keeping the magic alive?

As we endure yet another week of lockdown, it’s no surprise that everything is starting to feel a bit samey, and it seems relationships are no exception! The team at Semetrical have gathered Google Trends data to find out how Brits are keeping the romance alive during lockdown.

Things to do as a couple 

With lockdown came dramatic new challenges for everyone when it comes to dating and relationships. While some couples are being forced to spend close to 24 hours in confinement (yikes), others are being forced to spend lockdown completely apart with zero physical interaction.  

So, Brits are having to be more creative, as reflected in the recent surges in searches for the following trends:

Here we can see an uplift in heartwarming and wholesome searches such as ‘board games for couples’ and ‘quizzes for couples’. We can also see first hand the struggles of couples separated by lockdown with searches for ‘virtual date ideas’ and ‘facetime date ideas’ soaring. 

Elsewhere, searches are also up 100% for ‘drinking games for couples’ for those looking for something a little more adventurous…

N.B. ‘Breakout’ is the term used by Google to denote that a particular keyword is receiving an enormous increase in searches.

Brits are having to be more creative when it comes to keeping the magic alive during lockdown as reflected in recent search trends.

Keeping it spicy 

More adventurous still, it seems Brits are looking for ways to spice up their sex life while under house arrest. Here we see searches surge for ‘flirty texts’ (up +160%), ‘long distance sex toys’ (up +1050%) and the ultimate turn on ‘cute things to say to your girlfriend’ (up +180%)…

Finding love in lockdown

While many of us have seemingly given up hope on life after lockdown, many Brits are still hopeful of finding love. Searches for dating apps are on the up and it seems some are having success – with searches for ‘first date ideas’ surging by 110% – how romantic!

Interestingly, Badoo reported that 47 per cent of its users are now prioritising personality over physicality, which just goes to show that maybe home really is where the heart is.

Data was collected using Google Trends, for the date range 22/03/20-22/04/20.