Brains reign supreme when it comes to dating — but watch out for fakers

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Whether you’re a geek, a bookworm, a scholar, or all of the above, when it comes to the dating scene, you may find yourselves having to hold back interested parties with a (joy)stick.

The attraction to nerds is real, and more singles are finding themselves drawn to brains over all else, according to a study from knowledge app Nibble.

The nerd flex

And the smarties are taking advantage of the trend with some busting out “the nerd flex” to show just how desirable they are.

Being called a nerd used to be akin to an insult but in this day and age, the survey of 1,000 adults revealed that 83% now consider it a compliment.

In fact, 58% of respondents said someone who boasts intelligence in subjects like science are “straight-up hot,” and 60% admitted to being attracted to a partner who knows their history.

Gone are the days of swiping for the heck of it, with singles being more intentional with their dating.

Now, having smarts reads as a bit of a status symbol, so much so that a whopping 95% confessed that they would date someone significantly smarter than themselves.

Not everyone’s an expert

But there’s a catch.

Catfishing is a thing all daters need to watch out for, with 39% of respondents admitting they’ve used AI to look up a historical fact just to flex, and 1 in 5 revealed they have memorized history or science facts to impress a date.

Thanks to Google and AI, it’s easy to fake being wise — so people need to be wise to the fakers out there.

“AI has sprung upon us and made everyone an expert,” Sarah Stewart, learning behaviour expert at Nibble, said.

“This creates an interesting paradigm where anyone can talk on a topic at an expert level as long as they’re given forewarning, but when asked about something they didn’t have AI prepare them for, they fall flat,” she continued.

“This has only further exaggerated the appeal of true intelligence because it makes them a diamond in the rough,” she added. “When intelligence is rented through tokens by the general population, the ones that can think for themselves are the true winners.”

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