The sad thing about our generation is that we grew up surrounded by social media and an insane amount of technology. And while there are so many arguments to be made about how much it has helped us, it has also hindered us. We were given our first cellphones in middle school or early high school, allowing us to instantly communicate with whoever we wanted whenever we wanted. We had laptops and iPods and online gaming systems. We were raised on Facebook and Twitter where we could update our statuses and subtweet the people who angered us. It's because of these things and our growing dependency on them that we don't date like we used to. In fact, we don't really date at all.
Our generation's form of dating means texting constantly, liking one another's posts online, and having the empty title of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend." But real dating is rare. It's hard to find because romance is dying. In the past, people went on multiple dates. They went to the movies and had dinner and spent weeks getting to know each other before considering sex. It's so much different now. We live in a hookup culture where we no longer date to see if we like each other first before sleeping together. Instead, we meet up using mobile apps like Tinder and hook up a few times before deciding if we want to start dating a person. Sex in a relationship no longer comes from a deeper commitment.
Not only do we live in a hookup culture, but relationships in today's society are dominated mainly by insecurity. People become upset when they see someone sending their boyfriend or girlfriend a friend request or liking one of their pictures. We are so distrustful and ready to accuse our significant others of being unfaithful that sometimes we don't stop and think that maybe we're too involved in what we see online. Liking each other's pictures does not mean that we are cheating and neither does having a conversation with someone who is of the opposite sex. Friendship shouldn't be limited to communication between people of the same gender and breakups would happen a lot less often if people stopped believing that it is.
While dating isn't completely extinct, it's definitely going out of style and the main reason for that is because of how we use technology. The ability to talk to people around the world rests at our fingertips now. We can have relationships with men and women who are thousands of miles away and still be able to see them through FaceTime or Skype. We can view one another's Instagram stories and keep tabs on what people are searching for and posting. What technology has done for us is amazing, but that doesn't mean we should be allowing it to ruin our relationships or the way we feel about ourselves.
We should be focusing on what really matters instead of worrying about who is best friends with who on Snapchat. We should be going on real dates and getting to know each other so that we can build strong relationships and eventually have healthy marriages. We should have faith that we're not always being used or lied to by the people we care about. We shouldn't let a "Like" on Facebook be the reason our relationships end. Our generation needs to put down our phones and start dating again.
