Nov. 3, 2014
Alexander Nedd
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Look at her. She’s beautiful. Oh, look! Her friends are leaving, now’s your chance. You walk up, calm and collected, fi nally muscling the nerve to ask the question you’ve rehearsed for over two hours: “Hey, Amber, want to hang out this weekend?”
Romantic? Maybe. Cliché? Most defi nitely, but that’s not the point of this short-lived love story.
Flip phones and 10 years ago, our founding fathers once believed meeting someone was special. Butterflies would fl utter in your stomach and the thought of rejection was abundant, but the risk was very much worth the reward.
It’s a move that has brought generations of people together, including my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. It was an act that could simultaneously become the most vulnerable and bravest moment of your life.
Dating.
Sadly, these moments are leaving us, becoming replaced by the “now factor” that influences today’s fast-paced culture. No one asks anyone out anymore, relationships are formed through the use of cell phones and popular apps.
In some ways, dating in 2014 has become one of the easiest things to do. Apps and websites such as Tinder and eHarmony make it easy to create a profi le and connect with singles in your area.
These digital applications vary among shared interests, such as meeting Christians, farmers or LGBT members who are single. Anyone with an Internet connection can join these sites, which cater to your wants with hundreds of profiles to choose from, all on one page.
With the advancement of technology and the shift toward a more open culture among the millennials in America, many are ditching the act of finding relationships in exchange for quick hook ups.
Seriously, hooking up is as easy as ordering a pizza, and sometimes faster too. More teens and young adults are looking for casual sex than meaningful relationships. And with it so easy to fi nd someone only less than a mile from your location, it’s tempting to do just that.
Features such as instant messaging and likeable photos allow for instant information to be shared between parties, information that used to require a three-date rule.
It’s easy and attractive but kills the opportunity to truly get to know one another and form meaningful relationships.
Hooking up can lead to multiple issues, including a breakdown in communication and depression. Besides the risk of sexually transmitted diseases which can be high among college students, the act of meeting up with other singles doesn’t fill the void of connecting with another person and learning about them.
People become objects that can be thrown away.
Match.com says one in five relationships now meet online. We should use these tools of advancement to enhance the ability to meet and greet one another.
My current partner and I began dating through the use of an app, a medium that has pleasantly yielded a two year relationship. Success can be found, but it’s all in how you use the tools and market yourself. It’s not going to happen in just one drunken night.
2004 may be gone, but our standards should not leave with the advent of new technology. It’s time to put the risk in dating again.
Ask that girl out, flirt with one another, grab her number. Don’t sit behind a screen with a wellorchestrated picture and clever pick-up lines in your browsing window. Rather, seize the moment to perfect your communication skills and take a chance.
Dating doesn’t have to be dead; you just have to learn how to live.