Being single comes with its own set of hurdles, and they all seem to end in the word ‘fishing’.
Catfishing and wokefishing have now been joined by another weird dating trend: voicefishing. After the addition of voice-notes to dating apps such as Hinge, people are now worried their date might show up with a very different voice to the one they shared online.
But, how exactly do you voicefish, and how do you know if you’ve fallen victim to the new phenomenon?
How do you spot the signs of voicefishing? [Credit: Unsplash]
The term was originally coined by Hinge, after they started rolling out vocal prompts on their dating profiles. Profile prompts have been a great addition to dating apps for some time, with users able to answer questions like ‘if you had one super power, what would it be?’
For those who struggle with typing, or simply feel like their personality doesn’t shine through the written word as much as they’d like it to, they can answer each question verbally.
Seems like a fun little feature, right? What could possibly go wrong…?
Verbal prompts were introduced by Hinge. [Credit: Unsplash]
According to a study conducted by Hinge themselves, “half of our users have become less attracted to a match after hearing the sound of their voice”. People have shared that their dates’ IRL voices have made them feel “uncomfortable, annoyed and even disgusted”.
Hinge decided to name the phenomenon ‘voicefishing’, and have predicted that the trend could “make or break a match”.
They continued, “almost two-thirds of Hinge users say voice is an important factor in determining whether they like someone”.
Half of people confessed they felt “disgusted” by a match’s IRL voice. [Credit: Unsplash]
Tyla spoke to relationship expert for Condoms.uk, James Thomas, in order to get a better sense of what voicefishing actually is.
“Voicefishing is someone who puts on a fake accent or choice of dialect in attempt to impress potential matches”, he said.
“In order to build an authentic connection with someone and avoid any confusion, you should write in the way that you speak”.
Hinge predicts this phenomenon could make or break a match. [Credit: Unsplash]
We asked him if he had any other tips for steering away from the …….