Pickup lines may be slowly disappearing in modern dating

Modern dating is a brutal swipe-left madhouse, and the big question is, will humble pick-up lines disappear in 2025?

It used to be commonplace to approach someone you didn’t know in a bar and strike up a conversation, but with the introduction of dating apps in 2012, we’ve all forgotten how to talk to each other in person.

The pick-up service popularized by baby boomers and Gen Xers is in serious danger of disappearing.

Lines like “I’m lost, can you guide me to your heart?” Instead there was a Tinder message at 2 a.m. asking “Are you up?”

It dawned on me that things were getting scary when I was out with a partner recently – an objectively sexy single guy with a bed frame and basic manners, so a total trap – and he was too shy to approach women in person.

We were in a swanky bar, you know, the kind where the names of the cocktails are puns, and he pointed out that he found a girl attractive.

He was mortified when I suggested he approach her and, I don’t know, start a conversation or try to flirt with her.

“What, looks like a freak? I’ll see if she’s on any apps,” he said.

He then proceeds to browse three dating apps looking for the woman’s profile as we sit at the bar a few meters away from her.

He has absolutely no solid pick-up lines to wow her with, which makes me wonder: is this the end of a skinny-jeans-like pick-up line?

To see if this was just a one-off incident or a symptom of a wider dating epidemic, news.com.au took to the streets of Bondi to find out.

We even slipped, fell, slapped, and asked Bondi visitors the big question in the sun: “Will pick-up lines disappear in 2025?”

Two fellow travelers stopped to chat, and the guy in a matching shirt and top combo tipped us off to the dwindling line for the ride.

He said diplomatically that pick-up lines had “kind of” disappeared, but added that there was still a group of people using them.

“I mean, you see straight guys peeing and hoping girls will let them put their underwear on,” he said.

His friend chimed in to say that she wasn’t actually opposed to pick-up lines—she loved dad jokes—but she did have some caveats.

“It depends on how cheesy and funny it is,” she said.

Fair enough.

Gen Z living the dream and lounging around in tracksuits at noon gives us some hope that the pick-up line isn’t going away.

“I don’t think pickup lines will ever go away,” she declared.

So does she?

“That’s just for guys. Girls don’t have to bother with that,” she said.

At the same time, the two companions traveling together had completely different views. Both agreed the pickup line was dead and the girl had good reason for her argument.

“I do think so, and I think they’re despicable,” she said.

Her partner, who is shirtless and has as many tattoos as Pete Davidson, agrees that the pick-up line is over, but in a way you can tell he thinks the answer is pretty obvious.

The “well, they’re dead” theme continues.

Two 20-year-olds stopped to chat and soon claimed that not only had the hitchhiking line stopped, but they had never even heard anyone muttering loudly.

Three mums scoffed at the idea of ​​people still using pick-up lines in 2025 during a hottie walk.

One woman shook her head in horror at the thought of a man daring to push one out, things looked dire.

Occasionally, though, someone will admit that they don’t think pickup lines are as dead as they once were. sound A winner’s career.

One Millennial believes pick-up lines are not going away. They just text, not say it out loud.

“I don’t think they’re dead. I think there’s really a good line to pick up people on dating apps,” she said.

“Obviously nothing too dirty!”

She even fully defends the pick-up line and believes that, if done correctly, it can be a great, easy icebreaker.

It seems some people agree, with Racing NSW launching a pick-up tournament over the weekend to promote the Golden Mingle singles event to be held at Randwick’s Golden Eagle Stadium on Saturday 1 November.

The contest invites bettors to share their best pick-up lines for a chance to win $10,000, though it remains to be seen whether the winning line will have any chance of success among the thousands of Gen Z and Millennial women wearing colorful badges (green for single, red for hooked up, yellow for “it’s complicated”) on Mingle this weekend.

So the pickup lines have disappeared?

Not exactly, but they are dying out quickly and certainly haven’t been replaced by anything better.

Unless you find “Are you up?” particularly romantic.