An Italian expat living in Australia has called out the nation’s “awful” dating culture, highlighting the one habit she says is to blame.
The woman moved from Italy to Australia a few years ago and posted her unfiltered opinion on Australian dating culture on Reddit.
“I’ve been in this beautiful country for a few years now, but I have to say that the dating culture here is quite awful…,” she wrote.
The woman explained that the main reason she believes dating culture is so bleak Down Under is that Australians refuse to mingle outside their own social groups.
She added that people rely too heavily on dating apps.
“The reason is that here, pretty much everything is online (through dating apps) and there are no real connections,” the woman wrote.
“From where I’m from (Italy), most of the time we meet new people outside, like bars, clubs, places, etc…
“I’m not saying that dating culture in Italy is perfect, but at least it is more natural and less on dating apps.
“Here, everyone relies on dating apps, and when you go out, everyone stays only in their own circle of friends and doesn’t interact with others.”
The woman pointed out that the habit doesn’t just affect dating, but also makes it difficult to form new friendships.
“It’s as if they are afraid to go speak to new people, even just to make new friends, not only for dating,” she added.
“On the surface, everything is nice, but as soon as you try to click a deep connection (either dating or friends), it seems hard.
“That’s my point of view so far after a few years down here.”
Commenters largely agreed with the woman’s take, saying Australians tend to sideline deep conversations.
“The worst thing about meeting people in Australia is that it’s so easy to meet and get along with people, but so difficult to make actual friends,” one person said.
“Most Aussies are open to a superficial level but closed off beyond that, and you’ll meet a lot of people that you’ll really get along with but never see again.”
“You’re definitely European, then – much deeper conversations. There have been rare exceptions, but still nothing that I wanted to pursue,” another person commented.
“It’s as though people don’t like to challenge the norms/status quo, but life is much deeper than your job, where you live and what kind of music you like.”
One commenter wrote that some Australians confuse meaningful conversation with “trauma dumping”.
“I upvoted this because this is definitely a red flag, but I wanted to add the caveat that some people these days will call anything ‘trauma dumping’, and it’s a very easy deflection to remain emotionally unavailable,” they wrote.
One Australian sprang to the nation’s defence, claiming that people open up more to friends they’ve bonded over shared interests.
“Australians go beyond that once they have a group of shared interests,” they wrote.
“If you are just someone I work with, or just someone I play sports with, and nothing else aligns, there is a lot less emphasis on making a deeper connection.”