Category: Pandemic Relationships

When couples are isolated indoors during lockdown and didn’t have much else to do, it seems logical they would be having more sex and more often that not this resulted in more babies being born. It’s hard work taking care of a newborn baby but imagine how difficult it was becoming a parent during the pandemic, coping with shortages of toilet paper and formula, not to mention the financial cost of taking care of a baby when millions of jobs were lost during lockdown.

The cohort of babies born during the global pandemic have come to be known as “corona babies.” The term started to appear in online articles and social media posts around March 2020 and the term appears in the Urban Dictionary:

A baby created as a result of the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, where people isolated together indoors with nothing better to do than “work from home” and hoard toilet paper.

“Did you know they just had a corona baby?”

“Being shut in together for 2 months will do that”

“At least the corona baby has a lifetime supply of TP“

The possibility of a Covid baby boom was discussed in a tweet posted by Starcasm on March 16, 2020.

Back in 2020 The List published a YouTube video asking viewers the question “will the coronavirus lead to a baby boom?”

More than two years after lockdown we have the answer to this question. An article published for the Daily Caller on May 24, 2022 acknowledged there had been an increase in the birth rate caused by the pandemic:

The U.S. birthrate saw a 1% increase over the course of 2021 with 3.66 million babies being born throughout the year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. All age groups of women over 25 contributed to the jump in birthrates, with some experts suggesting that a lengthening COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to the bump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bryan Babb

Social Media Trends as of October 9, 2022

Facebook #coronababy: 11,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #coronababy: 43,396 posts
TikTok #coronababy: 29,900,000 views
YouTube #coronababy: 100 videos and channels

Google Trends: “corona baby” peaked during the week of March 15th 2020 which coincided with lockdown.

Sources:

Babb, Bryan. “CORONA-BABIES: US Birth Rate Increases For The First Time In Seven Years.” DailyCaller.com. May 24, 2022. URL: https://dailycaller.com/2022/05/24/us-birth-rate-increase-covid-pandemic/.

dots4dickn. “Corona baby.” Urban Dictionary. March 14, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Corona%20baby.

Mercenary_hero. “Covid babies on the way…” meme. MemeDroid.com. June 14, 2021. URL: https://www.memedroid.com/memes/detail/3380395/Covid-babies-on-the-way.

Starcasm. “9 months from now there are going to be a LOT of babies being born…” Twitter. March 16, 2020. URL: https://twitter.com/starcasm/status/1239636704392249347.

The List channel. “Will The Coronavirus Lead To A Baby Boom?” YouTube. 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vuIsV2XSXg.

Looking for love during a global pandemic can be tricky. It’s difficult to meet someone during periods of lockdown so many people used dating apps and kept in touch using zoom or chat. If you get to the stage where you want to meet up IRL then prepare to be corona zoned. This is where your partner is afraid to come over and get intimate in case they catch the ‘Rona and if you’re not vaccinated your relationship may end abruptly. This is probably just a notch up from being friend zoned.

The Urban Dictionary has a crude definition for corona zoned:

The new cockblock of 2020 due to the quarantine situation during the coronavirus outbreak. When a girl you trying to have sex with won’t meet with you purely out of fear that she might get infected with the virus.

flame99fromthablocc

An article published for the Huff Post explains it more eloquently: “When someone ― very understandably! ― doesn’t want to come to your place to hook up out of fear of catching or spreading the virus, you’ve been corona-zoned” (Wong).

Social Media Trends as of October 8, 2022

Facebook #coronazoned: people are posting about this.

Sources:

flame99fromthablocc. “Corona zoned.” Urban Dictionary. March 18, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=corona%20zoned.

Wong, Brittany. “13 New Dating Terms We Have COVID-19 To Thank For.” Huff Post. October 27, 2020. URL: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-dating-terms-covid-pandemic_l_5f90a2b7c5b695a32fb005f0.

What comes before Lockdown engagement? Corona-cuffing. This dating term appeared around March 2020 and refers to the “act of pressing fast forward on dating and going straight to the serious relationship stage, due to the challenging experience of being a single person during lockdown” (Glamour). Fear of missing out, maybe fear of dying alone is a strong motivator during a global pandemic when people are seeing their loved ones getting sick and possibly dying from Covid-19.

Single people have been particularly challenged by Covid restrictions, lockdown and quarantine. For many, it has made their loneliness more difficult to live with. An article published for Glamour on September 24, 2020 featured an interview with Rebecca, a 32 year old from London who “corona-cuffed” out of loneliness:

“I started talking to a guy on Hinge just before lockdown and quite literally locked him down for quarantine. It has totally enhanced my lockdown experience having someone to talk to every day and we even went on a post-quarantine holiday together, but I know he’s not The One. I was just desperate to lock someone down since I couldn’t date IRL – but things are already starting to go south as we adjust to ‘normal’ again. But, I don’t want to call things off because I’m so scared I won’t find anyone before the next lockdown.

Glamour

The Redonline magazine featured an interview with Hinge’s Director of Relationship Science, Logan Ury, who said: “Cuffing season is a period of time after the fun summer of love and being single, before the cold, lonely months of winter when people really want to get into a relationship.” There are downsides to rushing into relationships with people you hardly know especially when commitments are made too quickly. Ury continues that “Hinge are now seeing a lot more intentional daters on the app, who have used their time alone during lockdown to re-assess their dating habits” (Ilston).

Check out the informational video below as Iman Hariri-Kia, Bustle’s relationship editor, discuss the advantages and risks of settling down with a short term partner during a pandemic.

Social Media Trends as of October 2, 2022

Facebook #coronacuffing: people are posting about this
Instagram #coronacuffing: 23 posts

Google Trends: surprisingly “corona-cuffing” did not get picked up by the Google search engine. This may change in the future.

Sources:

Bustle channel. “Does Covid Cancel Cuffing Season?” YouTube. December 24, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEz9RKowJIc.

dangremonster. “love in the time of corona” meme. Reddit. 2020. URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusMemes/comments/fd2d0g/love_in_the_time_of_corona/.

“The Corona-cuff.” Glamour. September 24, 2020. URL: https://www.glamour.co.za/wellness/corona-cuffing-is-the-new-lockdown-dating-trend-thats-seeing-everyone-coupling-up-because-of-the-10pm-curfews-and-ban-on-casual-sex-rules-aa48c074-deee-46cf-aaf6-98d53886aed6.

Ilston, Sarah. “The new dating trend that’s doubled in popularity since lockdown.” Redonline. 30 October 2020. URL: https://www.redonline.co.uk/wellbeing/sex-relationships/a34492908/covid-cuffing-dating-trend/.

The dating world has seen new terms added during the Coronavirus pandemic, from Turbo Relationship to Lockdown Engagement. In 2020 the dating website Plenty of Fish coined the term “faucied” named after Dr. Anthony Fauci who serves as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and as Chief Medical Advisor to the President. Dr. Fauci has become something of a household name due to his expertise on coronavirus and for his regular appearances on TV.

Dr. Fauci has been a strong advocate for wearing masks during the pandemic and it is because of this that the term “faucied” came into being. Bruce Lee, a writer for Forbes magazine explains why:

When you “Fauci” someone, you don’t date that person because he or she is not taking Covid-19 and COvid-19 precautions seriously enough. For example, you may be Fauci-ing him because he claimed that the Covid-19 coronavirus is a hoax or is nothing more than the common cold. Or perhaps you have Fauci’d her because she’s posting selfies while in a maskless mosh pit.

Forbes

The term even made its way to the Urban Dictionary:

Declining to date someone because you don’t feel they’re taking COVID-19 seriously enough.

If I had a nickel for every time I found myself fauci-ing someone this year, I could pay off my student loans.”

Urban Dictionary

Check out this tweet where Axios managing editor, Margaret Talev, interviews Dr. Fauci over the new dating term coined using his name.

Dumping a date for their inconsiderate behavior during a global pandemic is perfectly justified but give them plenty of warnings first.

Social Media Trends as of October 2, 2022

TikTok #faucied: 66,600 views

Google Trends: faucied first appeared in Google’s search engine during the week of April 5, 2020. The popularity of the term waxed and waned until it peaked during the week of July 17, 2022.

Sources:

Axios. “Fauci learns how his name has been added to pandemic dating lexicon.” Twitter. February 14, 2021. URL: https://twitter.com/axios/status/1360971473288982531.

Lee, Bruce Y. “To ‘Fauci’ Someone Is Now A Covid-19 Coronavirus Dating Term, Here Are Others.” Forbes. February 22, 2021. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/02/22/getting-faucid-and-other-covid-19-coronavirus-dating-terms/?sh=34f4481b71b6

“Fauci-ing.” Urban Dictionary. November 10, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fauci-ing.

It’s no surprise that during the pandemic many people felt lonely and isolated during periods of lockdown and quarantine. Many felt the constant restrictions on movement with each new Covid wave were never ending. Couples didn’t want to be stuck at home and apart from each other so many made the decision to move in together making lockdown easier to manage. Enter the “turbo relationship,” a positive side effect of the pandemic where couples felt their relationship moved at a quicker pace than it normally would have done during periods of lockdown and where commitment milestones happened faster.

This podcast presented by Shira and Ryan discusses how dating has changed during the pandemic which has led to the term “Turbo Relationships.” (Audacy). The discussion begins at 0:33:25.

A Yahoo news report said it was unclear where the term “turbo relationship” had originated from but that it was used heavily in a report called Relationships in Lockdown produced by dating websites eHarmony and Relate. Couples’ counselors met with focus groups and the findings came from a “nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 adults” (Miller). This is what the report found:

Coined ‘turbo relationships’, over a third agree that two months in isolation feels equivalent to two years of commitment, and the same amount say they’ve reached common relationship milestones, such as moving in together, quicker. This acceleration has also led to more sex, better communication and the opportunity to discover new, shared passions.

Relate

The relationship website DatingAdvice.com published a list of dating definitions on April 4, 2022 which includes the turbo relationship:

A turbo relationship is like dating on steroids. It’s a relationship on the fast track on the highway to love. This relationship trend appeared more frequently during the beginning of the pandemic, when couples quickly decided to quarantine together rather than weathering the virus alone. With a turbo relationship, couples get serious super quickly, and often define the relationship by the second date.

By the end of the week, a couple in a turbo relationship may decide they’re a perfect match, confess their love to their new partner, and talk about a future together.

Spira

Watch the discussion below as Kulie and Yue discuss their own experiences with Turbo Relationships and ask some important questions. Are turbo relationships a good thing or are there drawbacks to moving so quickly?

Social Media Trends as of September 28, 2022

Facebook #turborelationship: people are posting about this
Instagram #turborelationship: people are posting about this

Google Trends: “turbo relationship” was first picked up in March 2020 when lockdowns began in the United States. The term hit a peak in July 2021 when the delta variant of Covid-19 gained ground forcing new lockdowns and quarantines. The popularity of the term began to subside at the end of August 2022.

Sources:

Datable channel. “Turbo relationships during Covid: do they work?” YouTube. 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aOaHZrBWmQ.

Miller, Korin. “’Turbo relationships’ are on the rise as pandemic brings some couples closer together.” Yahoo.com. June 25, 2020. URL: https://www.yahoo.com/video/turbo-relationships-rise-coronavirus-pandemic-brings-some-couples-closer-together-205925280.html.

Shira and Ryan. “What Is A Turbo Relationship?.” Audacy. October 15, 2020. URL: https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/lets-go-there-with-shira-ryan-22293/what-is-a-turbo-relationship-347946309.

Spira, Julie. “20 Modern Dating Definitions Singles Should Know.” Dating Advice.com. April 4, 2022. URL: https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/dating-definitions-2.

Tristanpope. “Dating Before and After Covid.” Reddit.com. 2020. URL: https://i.redd.it/fm48jczgwpu41.png.

If your significant other dumped you over Zoom during the pandemic, then you’ve been zumped. This new term, a combination of Zoom and dumped, appeared around April 2020 just after lockdown started. Dating was mainly relegated to video conferencing apps.

Zumping appeared as a new word suggestion for the Collins Dictionary on 17 April 2020. It means to “dump a romantic partner via Zoom or another app” (plainname). The Urban Dictionary’s definition of zumped is to “abandon or desert (someone) via videoconference” (LyricalPoet).

An article written for the New York Post described zumping during the pandemic as “break[ing] up in multiple ways at once…’It didn’t help that the internet connection wasn’t great so we kept freezing, and I said, ‘We’re breaking up’ and we were! It was very surreal,” freelance writer and producer Julia Moser, 26, writes in BuzzFeed of being dumped over the videoconferencing app Zoom this month…For her and others, the app is now a place for conferences and catch-ups; happy hours and heartbreak.'” (Frishberg).

Good Morning America published an article just over two years ago about how the pandemic has changed the dating landscape. Whereas a normal Saturday pre-Covid could be spent in a bar meeting somone you swiped on an app, pandemic restrictions have limited dating to video conferencing apps. Almost half of all adults in the United States are quarantining alone which makes dating apps even more popular but breakups are still the same whether you’ve been ghosted or “zumped.” The article offers tips depending whether you’re the “zumper” or the “zumpee” (Ghanid).

For the ‘zumper’

1. Practice the Golden Rule: Have a script ready so you can deliver your message as gracefully as possible. Winging it often results in harsher words and tones than intended. Deliver a message that you would want someone to give you during a breakup, with compassion and messaging that would be best for you, and you’ll head in the right direction.

2. Leave them alone: Do not call or text to check up on the person. Studies show that both partners heal better with zero contact post-breakup.

3. Reflect: Why did this breakup happen? Was there a specific issue or were you just bored? If you’re bored, and this has been an issue before, you may have a dating pattern that should be addressed.

For the ‘zumpee’

1. Block them: As said above, zero contact is best to heal. As painful as it is, enlist the support of the people in your life who are positive and empathic.

2. Therapy: If the breakup is so painful that you’re having trouble functioning after a week, enlist the help of a virtual therapist to guide you through this time.

3. Be grateful: As sad as you feel right now, and as perfect as you thought the relationship was, it wasn’t. This breakup was a wake-up call about a fundamental incompatibility. Better to know now than to spend months or years in this state.

The We Love Hiphop Network posted a discussion on YouTube about being Zumped.

Social Media Trends as of August 27, 2022

Facebook #zumped: people are posting about this
Instagram #zumped: 16 posts

Google Trends: zumped appeared in late December 2019 and peaked but by the week of May 31, 2020 which suggests lockdown and quarantine restrictions made video conferencing apps the new way to tell your partner that you wanted out of the relationship.

Sources:

Frishberg, Hannah. “Latest trash dating term, ‘zumped,’ is what happens when heartbreak meets Zoom.” New York Post. April 14, 2020. URL: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/now-theres-a-term-for-getting-dumped-over-zoom-zumped/.

Gandhi, Bela. “Dumped over Zoom: Why ‘zumping’ could be on the rise and how to handle it.” Good Morning America. April 24, 2020. URL: http://Dumped over Zoom: Why ‘zumping’ could be on the rise and how to handle it.

LyricalPoet. “Zumped.” Urban Dictionary. April 17, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zumped.

plainname. “Zumping.” Collins Dictionary. 17 April 2020. URL: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/submission/22234/zumping.

We Love Hip Hop Network channel. “Zumped! Dumped On Zoom/ Are The Instagram Vs Battles Fair | We Love Hip Hop S5 E169.” YouTube. April 21, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhd0D0ANhVE.