A growing trend among young adults, particularly Gen Z and millennials, involves applying data analysis and optimization techniques to their dating lives. This shift is driven by a desire for control and agency in an increasingly complex dating landscape, with 78% of people reporting burnout from dating apps in a 2025 Forbes report. Individuals are creating elaborate spreadsheets to track potential partners, logging details such as interests, dealbreakers, and even "emotional availability scores," sometimes even developing color-coded graphs or slide decks to compare prospects.
Companies like Sampson Ezieme's "Spread" app, launched in January 2025, cater to this demand by offering tools to categorize and rank dates based on "red, beige, and green flags." This approach aims to reduce guesswork and provide clarity in choosing partners. Experts suggest this is a natural progression as people apply the same optimization strategies they use for work, exercise, and diet to their personal relationships, viewing them almost as business problems to solve.
Beyond tracking romantic compatibility, financial factors are also being scrutinized. A Hily Dating App survey indicated that 20% of daters want to know a match's credit score before a first date, reflecting concerns about "financial future faking" where partners misrepresent their financial stability. Dating coaches like Lily Womble note that these spreadsheets act as a centralized hub, helping to combat cognitive overload and allowing individuals to identify their own dating patterns, rather than solely relying on an often unreliable "spark."
