With less money to keep them warm at night, people more desperate for love apparently:

“They’re looking for something that’s genuine in a world that isn’t very secure,” said Bathsheba Birman, co-founder of the Chicago dating event Nerds at Heart. “With headlines full of why you can’t trust established institutions that you thought you could … people are re-examining their own values.”Attendance at the monthly gatherings, where mostly young professionals pay $25 for a drink and a chance to spend the evening clustered around trivia and board games — was more than double expectations in April and has stayed high since.

said Craig Kinsley, a neurologist at the University of Richmond[:] “Really, dating, rather than being considered as expensive, can be a thrilling and inexpensive distraction. Like getting drunk without the wallet-hit or hangover.”

At the Chicago wine bar In Fine Spirits, the changing dating culture has lead to a roughly 30 percent increase in the number of parties of two, said general manager Brandon Wise.

“With such a tenuous climate right now, I think people are looking for stability in their partner,” he said. “I think it’s less haphazard dating and more pointed dating.”