Lockdown Love

Pandemic Has Aged the Average Relationship Four Years

Groundhog’s Day was last week, and if you live with your partner, the past year of quarantining together has probably felt eerily similar to the classic Bill Murray movie where every day feels exactly the same. And if you’ve felt this way, then you’re not alone. After spending so much extra time together the past year, the average couple has experienced the equivalent of four extra years in their relationship––based on the results of a new Valentine’s Day survey of 2,000 people conducted by experiences marketplace Groupon.

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After spending so much extra time together the past year, the average couple has experienced the equivalent of four extra years in their relationship––based on the results of a new Valentine’s Day survey of 2,000 people conducted by experiences marketplace Groupon. (Graphic: Business Wire)

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Groupon partnered with respected mathematician and Cambridge doctoral candidate Bobby Seagull, to develop a proprietary math formula* to come up with the quarantine relationship equivalent of “dog years” to quantify the extra time couples have spent together. In addition to calculating the additional time spent together compared to a normal year, the formula also includes a boredom factor, as nearly 60% of couples admit time is passing much more slowly since they can’t experience new things together. To calculate how much your relationship has aged during the pandemic, please click here.

For many, the extended amount of time together has been a positive experience, with 73% saying it’s strengthened their relationships and 65% saying they’ve learned more about their partners. Other positives identified by survey participants included: spending more quality time together (47%), sharing cooking responsibilities (43%) and drinking more cups of coffee (27%).

Although they’ve spent more time watching Netflix, chilling and playing board games, quarantine hasn’t been all fun and games for many couples. Fifty-nine percent said COVID has been the ultimate test of their relationships, and the average couple hasn’t been on a date in about five and a half months. The most irritating habits people discovered about their partners during quarantine included: they play loud music or watch TV during work hours (27%), they spend too much time in the bathroom (24%), they eat lunch too loudly (22%), they have an annoying work phone voice (20%) and they cause disturbances during work calls (18%).