EHarmony CEO: Key to Relationship Happiness Is 'Adaptability'
*By Carlo Versano*
EHarmony, the O.G. of online dating, built a reputation on its success rate for matching couples.
An innovator in its time and one of the first major players in the online dating space, eHarmony's notoriously long compatibility questionnaire aimed to help match users with other users based on interests, personal goals, and answers to questions like, "What makes you laugh the most?"
Now it says more than 80 percent of Americans in relationships are happy ー 20 percent higher than when the company last asked that question a year ago.
People were asked to rate their happiness for eHarmony's Happiness Index survey, and CEO Grant Langston told Cheddar in an interview on Thursday that the responses showed an interesting trend: having similar attitudes and principles around issues of social justice and politics correlated more to happiness than a partner's ability to earn money.
"The more that people are aware of what's going on in the culture ... the happier they are," Langston said.
Of course, income, education, and attraction remain important factors in finding a partner, as the survey showed, but now more people report that personal attributes like intellect, happiness, and a desire to be equal partners are as critical, if not more so.
"Just having a partner that's happy makes you happier and makes that person more desirable to you," Langston said.
According to Langston, the key to long-term relationship success is adaptability.
Those who are able to change and adapt with their partners or spouses "know what's worth fighting for and what's worth letting go."
That was before app and location-based online dating services came along and upended the industry. But along the way, the proliferation of apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr helped destigmatize the very concept eHarmony pioneered: that there's nothing wrong with using the internet to find love.
Those other services have "broadened the pool" of users, Langston said. Younger singles may wet their beaks on Tinder for a fling or a casual partner, but they come back later in life to eHarmony to find "meaningful relationships" ー or at least, that's the idea.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/eharmony-ceo-reveals-what-singles-want-when-it-comes-to-desirability).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.