As cuffing season arrives, more daters are choosing a slower, more deliberate pace over the rush to find a partner before the holidays, according to a 2026 dating guide published by Luxy.
According to Luxy, citing Match's 15th annual Singles in America study, conducted with Kinsey Institute researchers in March and April 2026 and released on 10 September 2026, 72 percent of singles said they were open to dating, while 34 percent prioritised peace and emotional safety over intense initial passion, compared with 14 percent who chose passion. Among single women, 40 percent chose peace against 9 percent who chose passion.
According to the same guide, a July 23, 2026 Mashable report on slow dating describes daters consciously limiting how many people they message at once. Social psychologist Sara Konrath compared slow dating to the slow food movement: a shift away from quick, disposable interactions towards depth and closeness built over time.
Impressive Magazine's 2026 dating trends roundup reports a similar shift, with 72 percent of Gen Z women saying they prefer intentional or slow dating over hookup culture, and apps responding with limits such as Hinge's eight likes a day for free users and Coffee Meets Bagel's five to six curated matches a day.
The guide also notes a practical side to the trend: according to WalletHub's August 2026 Money and Relationships Survey, 80 percent of respondents called poor financial literacy a turn-off in a partner, and 72 percent viewed financial disagreements as worse for a relationship than political disagreements.
Photo: Coffee and a croissant at a cafe table (file photo). Photo by Shixart1985, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 2.0.