In the era that’s flooded with apps which allow you to swipe left or right, and social media interactions that replace personal relationships; it seems that genuine connections and the traditional concepts of dating are fading away, and have been for some time now.
Rises in technology use have caused a notable difference in this generation’s love life compared to past generations. Instead of going out to find love, it is now common to find a relationship off of dating apps and through social media.
According to Abigail Sass, a writer at Valley Magazine, “Instead of meeting people organically and forming raw connections, finding a partner has turned into something that resembles a job interview process. While this may be efficient, it is not necessarily romantic in the way that most people imagine meeting their future spouse.”
Dating culture has seen significant changes throughout time. From drive-in movie dates and boomboxes blasting love songs out to your window, dating has morphed into occasional ‘snaps’ to one another and new complicated labels like “situationships” and “talking stages”. Social media has rapidly changed the way we go about finding love and how we navigate through it.
“Younger people, especially teens, seem more concerned with image than older people are. You guys are a lot less ready to do more mature things and physical intimacy seems to be different, there’s less physical intimacy, [such as hand holding], between younger kids and our generation,” said Amy Farrar, oral communication teacher at Rogers High School.
The lack of communication nowadays can be linked to social media and the normalization of ‘ghosting’ which means to cut off all contact to end a personal relationship without a given reason. We live in a world where communication is the easiest it has ever been so the act of ‘ghosting’ shouldn’t be as common amongst today’s generation.
“The way we communicate in relationships should be changed, we don’t try to understand each other’s perspective anymore,” said Andrea Leberon, 11.
With the path we’re on right now, dating culture is doomed unless we as a generation find a solution to the problem we have created. To make change for the better, we need to find a way to disconnect and re-evaluate what we believe to be a suitable relationship.
“I don’t think it’ll change because we’re too focused on who’s liking what post that we kind of put aside real relationships,” said Jayceon Alarcon, 10.
