Everyone knows about online dating, meeting people via the internet, phone apps, and finding any route other than "real life" dates to discover individuals that could be a potential significant other.

It's not like the old days where you run into someone at the store, you lock eyes, and, well–you know where I'm going with this. It's not just millennials and generation Y that is so submersed in today's technology - it's also older people as well. Haven't you guys heard of e-Harmony? Of course you have. That dating website has been around since 2000, long before Tinder, Happn, OkCupid, kik, and a gazillion others - and Facebook and Instagram do count, as well. Between every corner in some form of social media, there is a way to meet people. I've heard of couples who met via Tumblr. I feel like online dating or technology dating, what have you, has been more of a popular thing since the 21st century if anything. There is a tidal wave of advances in technology, and with that advance, there have also been social norm alterations in human kind as well.

What has happened to our society? For awhile now, the forms of dating have been rapidly growing, and in my opinion, it's kind of scary. Where will we be in about ten years? Sitting at home, going on "dates" on our computers with avatars designed to look like us? Yeah, that actually exists right now. Have we gotten lazy? Or do we just want something convenient? There is that one thing that will never change, and that is the fact that we as humans, crave and need a companion - we never like to be alone, and we have to have someone there to love. It's just in our nature. The thing that I am scared of is that dating and meeting people, falling in love and having that special someone won't be as authentic, because the way of encountering that person - it's degraded. It's not even the fact that people are some-what "cheating" when meeting people. (I'm sorry if that offends people) it's the fact that some dating apps are sexist and have developed reputations of depicting men and women (especially women) as objects. On Tinder, you can swipe right if the woman or man is unattractive to you, which I think is incredibly stupid. It would probably be a different experience if one person met the other in real life, with real interactions. Have you heard of "Hot or Not"? Yeah... I thought it sounded really odd, but I was curious so I downloaded it to see what it was all about. It was basically a picture of someone, and you could select if they were "HOT" or "NOT" and that's basically the gist of it.

Or here is this:
"You guys are so cute. Tell us about your first date".
"Oh, you know. I logged into this website one sunny day, and went strolling in the park. And then I saw her... she was so beautiful".
"Oh, I heard that is a romantic website. The creators of it knew how to make an appealing scenery for dates".
"Yeah, even through her avatar, I knew she was gorgeous".
"We build our first house together, too!"
"AWWWW".

I'm not over exaggerating, people. This could really happen, and in some ways it already has. And for the fact that technology has vastly grown at such a rapid rate in the past couple of years, can you blame me? I'm terrified. I understand that the world is constantly changing everyday, and that's fine, I totally get that. However, dating and love is the one thing that I want to stay "old school" . . . or maybe that's not the right way to phrase it. Perhaps sacred or valuable at least. Timeless. I don't want to lose that spark that comes with meeting someone for the first time to go away.

Maybe online dating is easier because it isn't so painful getting rejected by someone. All you have to do is scroll right or swipe to the other side of the screen, and BAM. You're in the clear, no feelings hurt and no real face-to-face encounters that would make it more emotional and realistic. Another thing that is a bit sketchy about online dating is the risk of being cat-fished: when someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue online romances. The thing about this, is there is always that fear of wondering if the person you are dedicating time and effort to is being one hundred percent honest with you. Making life long friends over the internet has become really popular in this day in age, and has also been successful as well. Still, there is that general risk and fear of getting romantically involved with someone who is not saying who they really are.

I'm not bashing the new and improved ways to meeting people, falling in love, speeding up the process, what have you. All I am saying is that maybe with all of this new technology coming at us so quickly and all at once, human race might easily forget what it's really like to go on a date with someone - to feel those first few nervous butterflies in the pit of your stomach, the anticipation of getting that "first kiss" at the front door after your date is over, and everything in between. Honestly, it's beautiful stuff - old school - but beautiful, and I don't want it to fade all for the sake of "speeding up the process". I get that people don't like to be alone, and it's so EASY to get on your app or whatever, and talk to a bunch of people and see what happens. I've even had my moments of slight desperation; however, I think there could be a good balance.

Perhaps I'm over-exaggerating a little bit . . . or maybe not.


Everyone is constantly looking down at their phones (I'm a total suspect of this, yes yes yes) but I'm not saying that it's an entirely good thing, either. All the time that we spend looking through someone's profile pictures, stalking them on Facebook or Instagram, "liking" someone's photo, or swiping to the right, is all the time that maybe someone special could have walked right past us without us even noticing . . . all because we were looking down at our phones - intentionally searching for someone. We have become so incredibly submersed with filling that void of loneliness, or actually wanting to meet someone via internet, that we forget about the real world. It's like we've all lost some sort of hope or something.



Here is the big question: Is technology destroying the dating scene? Does it make us value relationships less, and everything that comes with being committed to someone? How important is that initial "first time you meet someone in person" moment? I guess it all depends on the rest of the world - to you - thinks about it.