Relationship Column: The Art of Dating

Alex Parker Editor-in-Chief

In recent weeks a particular question was posed to me, ”Has dating died?” No, I would not say that dating has become extinct. However, I would say that traditional means of finding a date have most certainly changed. Gone are the days where a girl can go out with her friends, catch a guy’s eye, and then have him proceed to ask her out on a date.

The closest you can get to that happening these days, is the guy may come grab your name only to go home and stalk your Facebook or Twitter for a little while. Perhaps after that you’ll receive a Facebook message saying something slightly less than charming like, “Heyyy baby girl,” or, “So, you’re really hot.” Creepy messages like that are not exactly going to entice the female to want to talk to you. A simple, “Hey, I met you the other night at so-and-so place. How are you?” would get you a lot further in the dating department.

I feel as though our generation and the younger ones do not go out on a date to get to know one another. The two people may finally go out after a few weeks to a month of chatting via Facebook or maybe even texting; and no, not phone-calls, just texting. Picking up the phone to have an actual conversation with a new guy or girl seems to frighten today’s college students. It’s odd, because I feel as though these younger kids will never know the fear of calling their crushes house phone and having a parent pick up, the way it used to be when I started dating in high school.

Generic ways of meeting people have fallen to the wayside in place of social media and dating websites. Not only is it effecting the way people are dating but I also think it’s having an effect on the conversations people are having. You don’t just ask for people’s phone numbers and email addresses anymore, you ask for their Twitter handle, Facebook name, or Snapchat ID.

I met my boyfriend roaming the hallways of our high school. Back in the days when you had MySpace; Facebook was for college kids only. Seven years later, we still talk on the phone whenever we can instead of texting or Facebook messaging. Social media and dating sites have made the art of dating almost cold and impersonal.

So has dating actually died? Not exactly, but like everything else in the world, the Internet and social media have changed the dynamics and the rules. I encourage whoever is reading this to try meeting someone the “old-fashioned” way. Facebook stalking or texting is not required.