Millennials, it's said, don't date.
They hang out in groups. They hook up. If they want to meet someone, they rely on sites like Tinder instead of a chance meeting. And if they happen to find someone they like and start going out together, they'll say they're "talking," not "dating."
But even though they're not exchanging high school rings or sharing a malt at the neighborhood soda fountain, millennials do indeed date. It's just looks a little different than it used to.
Dating, for those Americans ages 18 to 29, is more casual, less defined and often less serious, at least until some of the big challenges of young adulthood — getting through school, landing a job — have been met.
In addition, millennials tend to wait longer than their parents or grandparents did to enter into serious relationships and marry. According to the Pew Research Center, only one in five millennials is married and one in eight is married with children. That's significantly fewer than the number of married Gen Xers and about half of the baby boomers who were married when they were the same age.
Waiting, however, is not necessarily a bad thing, said Carol Bruess, director of family studies at the University of St. Thomas.
"They're figuring out other parts of their life first, like their career and sense of self."
Millennials tend to socialize in groups, large or small. If they develop an attraction, a couple will likely not consider each other boyfriend or girlfriend for months or longer. It's not until they go "Facebook Official," by changing their status to "In a Relationship," that they are deemed to be dating.