The Millennial Intimacy Report: How Dating, Friendship, and Emotional Support Are Being Rebuilt in the Digital Era

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey of 2,000 millennials by Dating.com, the leading virtual intimacy platform, uncovers the biggest shifts in how this generation dates, connects, and builds emotional closeness in 2026 — revealing why dating is splintering, emotional outsourcing is accelerating, and virtual intimacy is becoming the default.

TL;DR – Key Findings

• 55% are open to long-distance relationships that may never go offline.
• 48% are open to parallel relationships that split emotional and physical needs.
• 40% consider it acceptable to have a platonic online soulmate while in a relationship.
• 36% would date someone from a more expressive or emotional culture
• 48% have shared private details of dates, breakups or friendship fallouts on social media – and 1 in 10 already regrets it.
• 75% have lost close friendships in recent years due to life changes instead of conflict.
• 52% have ended a relationship over a minor ick – a third-wave effect of disposable dating culture.

2026 Intimacy Trends: The Full Report

Millennials are reshaping the meaning of intimacy, companionship, boundaries, and even what it means to "be together."

They are widely considered the burnout generation for a reason. They came of age during financial crises, unstable job markets, the rise of hustle culture, and a decade of "always-on" digital life. Their emotional bandwidth has been stretched for so long that exhaustion isn't an episode — it's a baseline.

After years of carrying more emotional load than any generation before them, it's no surprise that today's dating and friendship dynamics look radically different, shaped by the rise of virtual intimacy as a sustainable way to connect.

This year's findings show a culture that has hit emotional capacity – and is now rebuilding its relationship norms from the ground up.

Below is what's coming in 2026.

0. Emotional Outsourcing: The Macro-Trend of 2026

At the core of every 2026 shift is one thing: people are redistributing their emotional bandwidth. This macro-trend – Emotional Outsourcing – shapes everything that follows.

Five findings – all from different questions – collapse into one undeniable cultural shift: outsourcing emotional needs outside their primary relationships becomes more common.

• 48% are open to parallel relationships: one partner for physical needs, another for emotional ones.
• 36% want a platonic online soulmate to fill emotional gaps without seeing it as cheating.
• 65% say it's easier to open up to an online companion than to a partner.
• 40% consider it acceptable to have a platonic online soulmate while in a relationship.
• 33% say this setup is becoming more common among couples.

This is the biggest structural relationship change of 2026. People are redistributing emotional labor.

They don't want to place their entire emotional world on one partner or carry someone else's in return. To protect the relationships that matter, they spread their emotional needs across different connections instead of overwhelming a single one.

They're recognizing that one person cannot be everything – and they're building emotional "boards of directors" around themselves: partner, friend, digital confidant, online soulmate.

This won't disappear — in fact, all indicators suggest it will scale as people continue reorganizing their emotional lives.

1. The Digital-First Romance Shift

Long-distance used to be a compromise. Now it's a preference.

55% are open to a long-distance relationship that may never become in-person, and 7% prefer it.
37% would consider a fully online relationship to avoid dealing with someone's habits, routines, or logistics – and 8% prefer that format outright.
Another 32% say they want online relationships because IRL interactions feel draining.

This isn't about avoiding relationships. It's about choosing the format that feels the most sustainable. For many, digital-first dating offers closeness without the pressure of constant in-person coordination. It gives people space to connect at their own pace.

2. Cultural Compatibility Migration

Millennials aren't just curious about other cultures – they're low-key tired of their own dating pool. 36% would date someone from a more expressive or emotional culture because local partners feel too reserved, too closed off, or simply do not give them what they need.

And that sentiment is reinforced by the stories we consume:

• Emily in Paris → French romance is dramatic and expressive
• Bridgerton → British men are chivalrous and emotionally articulate

This isn't escapism. It's aspiration. People want what they don't see at home – so they're looking abroad, happily outsourcing romance to someone with a little more spark — say, an Italian man who actually texts back.

Looking abroad for emotional resonance shows that people are comfortable finding different types of connection in different places, rather than expecting one relationship to meet every need – including through virtual intimacy when IRL options fall short.

3. The Friendship Recession

Millennials already live with shrinking social circles, but the reason isn't conflict.

A staggering 75% say they've lost close friendships in recent years because of life changes, not fights. Work, burnout, geography, and emotional load are dismantling once-tight bonds. Over half lost more than one close friend.

It also reflects a deeper shift in how people see relationships. Social circles aren't supposed to stay frozen in time; they evolve as our lives evolve. Friends used to fill every corner of our world, but now they're one part of it — not the whole of it. Millennials are choosing fewer people, but better ones, gravitating toward connections that feel reciprocal, energising, and emotionally safe.

As social circles contract, people naturally spread their emotional needs across more spaces (friends, partners, and digital confidants) accelerating the rise of Emotional Outsourcing.

4. The Ick Regret Wave

Dating culture turned micro-flaws into dealbreakers – and now it's backfiring.

52% ended a relationship or dating situation because of what they now recognize was a minor ick. More than 1 in 10 regret ending things.

This is the dark side of unlimited choice. When connection feels infinitely replaceable, people don't try to fix things – they "exit." There's no incentive to work through friction when a new match is three swipes away.

The regret proves the point: we're not ending relationships because they're wrong. We're ending them because more options made them feel disposable.

2026 will be the year people admit that "ick culture" made dating worse, not better.

Frequent break-offs leave emotional gaps, so people increasingly seek steadier sources of support beyond just the dating pool.

5. The Nerd Normal

Being smart isn't "nice to have" anymore – it's desirable.

71% say nerds are sexy. Not "educated." Not "capable." Actual nerds: bookworms, Dungeons & Dragons players, obsessives with deep knowledge about niche topics.

Why? Because millennials grew up with chaos – financial crises, political volatility, burnout culture. What's attractive now is stability, competence, and someone who can disappear into a passion instead of disappearing from the relationship. Nerds have depth, interests, and consistency. They don't perform cool – they live in whatever they genuinely care about.

This is the beginning of "substance attraction." It also reshapes who people look to for emotional steadiness in their lives.

6. The Therapy Filter

Millennials want people around them doing the work – not just partners, but friends and their wider circle too.

51% prefer to date or be friends with people who are in therapy, and 12% actively filter for it. Therapy signals responsibility, emotional vocabulary, and accountability – three things dating culture has been starved of.

In a world tired of people who can't communicate or regulate their emotions, therapy has become the new badge of compatibility.

7. The TikTok Oversharing Collapse

Millennials have spent the last decade treating their personal lives like public content – especially on TikTok, where oversharing isn't just normal, it's rewarded. But that era is cracking.

Nearly half (48%) say they've shared details of dates, breakups, or friendship fallouts on social media, and 1 in 10 regrets it. The TikTok confessional trend has taught us that once your private life becomes entertainment, it stops being private – and people know it. If someone openly turns every disagreement, red flag, or heartbreak into content, potential partners assume they'll be next in the public arena.

This trend shows the cost of hyper-transparency: once intimacy becomes audience-approved, trust becomes harder to build. In 2026, the pendulum swings back toward privacy – not just to protect oneself, but to signal to others: you can trust me with the parts of you that aren't meant to be shared.

This shift marks a return to virtual intimacy that's private and intentional rather than performative.

Meet new people online and build real closeness? Absolutely. Share every detail with the whole internet? Absolutely not.

Wrapping up

Millennials aren't withdrawing from intimacy — they're choosing it more intentionally.

They're cutting loose what drains them, seeking out what nourishes them, and finding connection in places that actually meet them where they are. It's not detachment — it's redesign, and it's long overdue.

The future of relationships isn't about placing all your emotional needs on one perfect person; it's a balanced ecosystem of people, spaces, and formats – including virtual intimacy – that expand your emotional world and help you gain more of the feelings that make life fuller.

Methodology

The data in this report derives from a survey conducted by Dating.com. The survey was launched in December 2025. In total, 2,000 adults were surveyed, and all respondents took the full survey. All genders and ethnicities in the Millennial age group were included in the study.

SOURCE Dating.com