While most have used the feature to learn more about their music taste, one woman has applied the concept to her dating life.
TikToker Amber (@amberwavesofbrain) has created a “wrap” of her love life in 2022, complete with carefully collated data and a PowerPoint presentation.
In a clip shared to the video-sharing site on November 5, Amber breaks down a year of bad dates, from the number of guys who made it past one meet-up, to the venues and locations, and who dumped who.
Since being posted, Amber’s video has received 2.3 million views and 245,000 likes, with many users finding her experiences highly relatable.
Is Dating More Difficult in 2022?
Amber isn’t alone in struggling to find love. The “dating wrapped” trend was started by TikToker Alexandria McLean (@alexandriathemediorce), who, like Amber, also had her share of dating disasters in 2022.
In her own PowerPoint presentation posted on December 2, McLean described the task as “the most depressing thing I’ve ever done.” Hilariously detailing her less-than-romantic encounters this year, McLean spurred a trend of disappointed daters sharing their own stats.
Online dating is now the most common place for American couples to meet, but it seems to have also made things more complicated.
A 2020 study by the Pew Research Center explored Americans’ experiences around online dating, and found that 26 percent had mostly negative encounters, compared to 22 percent who had mainly positive experiences (50 percent said online dating had neither a positive or negative effect on their love life).
Dating apps have led to toxic trends such as “orbiting”—when someone ghosts you, but continues to like your social media pictures or watch your stories—and “whelming”—when someone brags about how many matches they have to seem more attractive (but just end up being annoying).
For those that make it to a face-to-face meeting, costs are likely to influence the activity chosen. A survey of 3,000 Hinge users found 41 percent were concerned about the cost of inflation—and how it would impact their dating life.
As a result, many daters are opting for cheaper activities, such as going for a coffee (17 percent), talking a walk (14 percent), or visiting a museum or exhibition (8 percent).
Amber told Newsweek that her worst date involved thrift store shopping.
“I love thrifting so I thought it would be a great time,” she said.
“We go to check out and this guy only has an American Express card which the store didn’t take, so I paid for everything, and he was like ‘I’ll pay you back later or I’ll get dinner tonight.’
“We go the arcade where I had a $3 slice of pizza.”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t really a “best date” for Amber, who described most outings as “pretty generic.” However, her trip to Target was certainly the most memorable.
“I figured it would either be a really good date or a good story,” she said.
“Right before I went into the store I made a short TikTok just being like ‘This guy from Hinge asked me on a date and here’s where he wanted to go,’ and then I panned to the Target sign.
“That went really viral and the next day I had to tell him about it and he didn’t even have a TikTok.”
‘I Have Learned Anything? Probably Not’
Opening her video with “welcome to my 2022 dating wrapped,” Amber gets straight down to the data.
She said she went on 18 first dates this year, mostly through Hinge or Tinder. She met one man “in the wild,” who she kissed at a bar on New Year’s Eve, but in Amber’s words: “it all went downhill from there.”
She met one person on Facebook dating, which she would “1000 percent not recommend.”
“I would rather ask my dad to buy me lingerie than to get back on Facebook dating,” she said.
Most of her matches only made it to one or two in-person dates, with the record being six. When it came to breaking things off, Amber said she ended things half of the time, while a few times it was mutual and other times it was the guy.
“I cried over two of these men,” she said. “Which incidentally is the same number of parking tickets I got while on dates.”
Amber spent $368.36 on dates in 2022, a number she wishes “she hadn’t calculated.”
“What could I have done with this money?” she said. “Literally anything else.”
Concluding her presentation, Amber said: “I have learned anything? Probably not.”
Fellow TikTok users found the “wrap” hilarious, with user Adrianna calling the clip “iconic.”
“We love an analytical data queen,” said ImHereForTheChaos.
“Probably the first PowerPoint I paid attention to from start to finish,” wrote funkeetowel.
“This is hilarious and sad and a full rollercoaster of emotions,” commented Melanie DR8.
While Mrs A. Mack suggested including “a performance review” next year, and advised “sending them a survey to fill out.”
Newsweek has reached out to @amberwavesofbrain for comment.
Update 12/07/22 04:18 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include more information from Alexandria McLean.
Update 12/19/22 05:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include more information from Amber/@amberwavesofbrain.
