How open are you about being on a dating site?
Are you shouting it from the rooftops or quietly tapping away in private? We asked 412 members how much of their dating life the rest of their world gets to see — and the answers say a lot about modern Ireland.
Top answer
I keep it completely private until I'm in a real relationship
29.4%
Nearly three in ten members keep their dating life to themselves — but "close friends and family know" is only two percentage points behind. Ireland is private, but not completely.
How different groups voted
By gender
Numbers show votes within each option. Privacy levels are broadly similar across genders, but the discreet-profile option was heavily female — nearly two-thirds of those who chose it were women.
Completely private
Close friends and family know
Only my best friend knows
Tell everyone
Discreet profile only
By age group
Each cell shows what percentage of that age group chose each option. The contrast between "tell everyone" (a young person's answer) and "discreet profile only" (a 55+ answer) is the sharpest generational divide in any poll we've run.
| Option | 18–24 | 25–34 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Completely private | 18.5% | 24.4% | 30.2% | 31.8% | 33.7% |
| Close friends & family | 29.6% | 28.9% | 30.2% | 29.5% | 20.8% |
| Only my best friend | 18.5% | 23.3% | 24.5% | 21.6% | 17.8% |
| Tell everyone | 33.3% | 21.1% | 10.4% | 6.8% | 2.0% |
| Discreet profile only | 0.0% | 2.2% | 4.7% | 10.2% | 25.7% |
Poll ran 29 April – 6 May 2026. 412 Grounded members responded. Self-reported demographics from member profiles.
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What the numbers say
Ireland is private — but not uniformly so, and not across all ages. The overall result masks one of the sharpest generational divides we've seen in any Grounded poll. Among 18–24 year olds, "tell everyone" was the single most popular answer at 33.3%. Among the 55+ bracket, the same option was chosen by just 2%. Privacy, it turns out, is something you acquire with age.
The mirror image is the discreet profile option — no recent photo, no real name. Not a single 18–24 respondent chose it. By the 45–54 bracket, one in ten did. By the 55+ bracket, it jumped to 25.7% — making it the second most common answer in that age group, effectively tying with "close friends and family know." For older members, the concern about being recognised locally is real, and the platform needs to earn that trust before they'll show their face.
The gender split on the discreet option stands out: 64% of those who chose it were women. That's the most gender-skewed answer in this poll, and it echoes a broader pattern — women on dating platforms face different visibility risks than men, and many are making a considered choice about what to show until they're confident in who's looking. Worth bearing in mind when reading profile completeness stats from this community.
Perhaps the most reassuring finding: across the three middle options (private, friends know, best friend only), the 35–44 bracket split almost exactly evenly between "completely private" and "close friends and family know" — 30.2% each. That age group hasn't fully closed off; they're just thoughtful about the audience. The combination of the top three answers accounts for 78.4% of all votes, which suggests the vast majority of Grounded members are somewhere on a spectrum of selective disclosure — not hiding in shame, but not broadcasting either. Grand.