It has become somewhat of a social media tradition to share your Spotify Wrapped or share a recap of how your year went. Even BeReal created its ‘Recap’ feature so its users could join in with the yearly tradition. But TikTok users have come up with a new ‘Wrapped’ of a different sort: a ‘dating wrapped’.
The ‘Dating Wrapped’ trend follows Spotify’s idea of showcasing your year in songs but instead focuses on your love life. The premise of it is simple; people list how many people they’ve dated in 2022. People got creative with this trend, creating Powerpoint presentations, graphs, and charts to map out what their dating life looked like in 2022. Many users focused on things like the zodiac signs, height, and even the dateability of the people listed. Others totaled up how much money they spent on failed first dates or how many times they got ghosted. The results are iconic and it’s easy to see why the #datingwrapped hashtag has over 30 million views.
Who started the Dating Wrapped trend?
Like most trends, it can be hard to find the original creator who came up with the idea. However, the earliest dated ‘dating wrapped’ video came from creator Amber (@amberwavesofbrain), who posted her dating wrapped on December 4th. Her video features some hilarious pie charts and bar graphs detailing things like where she met her dates, how many dates they went on, and the setting or activity for each date. Amber created a very analytical presentation, breaking down her dating statistics into percentages. She calculated she spent $368.36 (£300) on dates, with drinks taking up 33.3% and dinner 22.2% of the expenses. During her year of dating, Amber also shared that she ended around 50% of the relationships, with her partners ending 33.3% and the remaining 16.7% being mutual decisions.
@amberwavesofbrain If any of these men see this, I want you to know that you’re not special and you’re just a number to me 😌✌🏼 #datingwrapped #wrapped #tinder #hinge #facebookdating #firstdate
♬ original sound – Amber
Taking inspiration from Amber, other creators were similarly analytical when discussing their 2022 dating life. Julie (@notpoot) broke down all the reasons her dates didn’t work out using a pie chart. Her biggest reason was there being ‘no spark’ followed by getting the ‘ick’ about whoever she was dating. She also created a ‘leaderboard’ for her top 3 guys she’d dated, although none of them seemed particularly great.
@notpoot seeing myself inverted is my 13th reason #datingwrapped
♬ original sound – julie
Doing a Dating Wrapped is fun, easy, and can help you get a better love life in 2023
If you want to share just how bad (or good!) your dating life was in 2022, all you need is Microsoft PowerPoint or even Canva. You can make a slideshow of whatever you want to share about your dating life in 2022. Put in some fun graphics, pie charts, bar graphs, and other elements to visually represent how many dates were fails or how many people ghosted you. Reflecting on what went wrong can be a great way to look at what you want to change about your dating life in the New Year. As we prepare to enter 2023, going into it knowing what you like and what you don’t like – and doing it all with a colourful PowerPoint presentation and some bar graphs– might be the way to go.
English student at Queen's University Belfast
