Online Dating for Seniors at Consonance (Gleichklang)
Current dating trends show that seniors represent a growing proportion of the general population in all Western industrialized countries, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
While old age is often associated with terms such as frailty, illness, and need for care, in reality most seniors live independently in partnerships, together with family members, or alone in their own homes. Only a small proportion of seniors choose to live in nursing homes, and relatively very few seniors are in residential care facilities.
The image of helplessness and need for care is only one aspect of the reality of life for seniors. The other aspect is an active and self-determined life in old age.
Outpatient assistance and care options—from nursing services to assisted living, whether permanent or temporary—contribute to maintaining self-determination. Thanks to long-term care insurance, affected seniors can fortunately afford these services as well.
Thus, today, placement in a nursing home for older people is only advisable if they truly want it. If an older person prefers to stay at home, this is possible with the support of outpatient services, right up to end-of-life care and companionship during the dying process.
Precisely because of the increasing proportion of seniors in the total population, a shift in the perception of old age has taken place. Whereas deficits and decline processes were once the focus of attention, today greater emphasis is placed on resources and competencies that can be maintained and developed for older people, enabling them to achieve maximum life satisfaction and personal responsibility. Studies show that many activities once thought to be reserved for younger people are now often performed by seniors as well—including competitive sports.
There is no uniform opinion on when senior age begins. Age limits of 50, 55, 60, or retirement age are often mentioned. What is certain is that most seniors do not see themselves as belonging to the “older generation” but rather feel much younger than they might be perceived by the outside world.
Meanwhile, senior topics are highly relevant, and addressing the needs of seniors is becoming a societal given.
A topic that particularly affects older people—though not exclusively—is widowhood. Due to their higher life expectancy, women are more affected than men in old age. The death of a partner is a profound turning point that can, in some cases, be accompanied by the loss of further social networks, depression, and even the abandonment of personal responsibility. However, a deficit-focused view also obscures the fact that the vast majority of seniors successfully cope with the grieving process and maintain their life satisfaction and social integration.
Although widowhood is often associated with crisis experiences, it can be overcome by most seniors. Active grief work and the integration of the deceased into daily life can sustainably support this process, mobilizing resources for further life management.
Even though most seniors are rooted in social networks, these networks tend to decrease with age on average—partly due to deaths. For a not insignificant minority of seniors, loneliness in old age becomes a reality.
Building social contacts can counteract such unfavorable developments. In addition to family, neighbors, care facilities, services, and community centers, seniors are increasingly using the internet to find social contacts. Reflecting current dating trends, more and more people in old age are searching for friendships and also looking for a partner online. Internet usage among seniors is growing rapidly; according to recent surveys, with over 5 million seniors, far more people in old age are online than teenagers.
The internet offers seniors the opportunity to overcome spatial limitations—sometimes due to health reasons—and to get in touch and communicate with other people, whether younger or older.
Consonance (Gleichklang) is also making every effort to support its senior members in their search for friendships and partnerships. Our evaluations show that the chances of success for seniors in our matchmaking service are actually slightly better than those of younger members, measured by the ultimately decisive criterion of whether a partnership or friendship is formed. The main reason is that seniors actively looking for a partner at Consonance demonstrate a particularly high level of seriousness and correspondingly show a willingness to engage with partner suggestions, make contact, and meet each other.
Another advantage for seniors in their dating journey is that they are typically no longer subject to the constraints of working life. This allows them to focus more on finding a partner and make more independent decisions. Of course, these advantages are offset by disadvantages such as more frequent illnesses and susceptibility to geriatric syndromes, which can be recognized and taken into account by a matchmaking service oriented toward the needs of seniors, as is the case at Consonance.
With its psychologically grounded matchmaking, Consonance aims to make online dating for seniors as successful and safe as possible.
