In the last couple of years, dating stopped becoming an art form of trial and error and started becoming a scientific process of matching a person with "the one." It is a sad fact to face when every person with a smartphone is now attached to dating apps such as "Coffee Meets Bagel" or "Bumble" all because it glamorizes the idea that people would be to obtain their one true love. Getting to know someone intimately and grow together in a relationship has now become a calculated risk with statistics that are produced by a binary code.

I have nothing against utilizing dating apps to meet new people or get to know someone for the first time. However, there is a fine line between using a tool to get to know the bare bones of a person and depending on technology to make a decision about our love lives. Go ahead and use an app to learn about a person's favorite food or activity, but let's remember that iPhones and Androids cannot replace plain old common sense.

Supernatural TV shows have alluded to how technology has taken over our daily lives, but "Black Mirror" pulls out all the punches and literally slaps the viewers with the realization. The anthology series with the play-on-words title (referring to the black screen of a smartphone), "Black Mirror" attempts to explain their version of what reality would be like with smart technology. Viewers are appalled and captivated by the idea that the smarter the technology becomes, the less civilized humanity becomes.

In the latest season, the show tackles the methodology of dating apps in the episode called "Hang the DJ." The main protagonists, Frank and Amy, are placed in the System with a small circular device named Coach, whose main objective to trial run different relationships. With an expiration date predetermined, these two go on their date only to part by the word of Coach. Immediately after, they are paired up with other people for a pre-specified time frame until they find the ultimate one. There is no turning around or having second thoughts; they are just with the ultimate ones for eternity.

Under the word of a device that has no face and no feelings, people are blindly set up with a stranger who they could be with for a few hours or a lifetime. The lack of opinions from the characters is startling, to say the least, but what does it really mean? Are we really a society that will throw away common sense and depend on a device that knows we are nearly 100% matched with an individual?

I'm sure dating during my parents' generation required more thought and consideration. The version of a "you up?" text was legitimately calling a person and genuinely asking how he or she is. Asking someone on a date required that leap of faith in the other person. And, most importantly, trust was necessary that a relationship could last beyond a pre-ordained expiration date.

I believe we lost trust in other individuals and think that a device has better judgment than we do. I do not blame us given how many #metoo stories and horrifying dates exist. But underlying all of that is the idea that we are avoiding the feeling of betrayal when we find out who we thought we were dating is not really the person who is standing in front of us. It is a terrifying feeling to realize that you made a relationship based on a lie. However, experiences like that shape who we are as people and help us make better decisions later on.

Life is the System that you never signed up for but don't you think it is time to take back our ability to make a decision to meet someone instead of relying on a "scientific matching score?" I'm 99.8% sure that I'll be much happier putting my own mind to work to make my own decisions about my dating life.