Nowadays people use apps to meet others. An example is dating apps, an app people use the most is tinder, but also many other dating apps. There has been a change in how many of us are finding our partners and indeed what we are looking for mostly on our phone. Tinder lets you search for single people in your area looking to meet for dating or any other activity you could care to mention. Philip Karahassan said “I was watching this video in which a cross section of people were asked to use Tinder to find people they would go on a date with. What they found is that people’s response to their love life was much more optimistic once they had used Tinder”(https://www.psychalive.org/how-technology-is-changing-dating/).
This piece of evidence shows how people are relying on their profile on dating apps than going out and meeting people face to face. The article says that people are seeing the apps as a game because if they don’t like the person, they can just move on to someone else. A problem that the apps are causing is people who are on these apps aren’t afraid of rejection or rejecting others, because they will just gain more matches from it. These dating apps are seen as games to us because you don’t stop playing until you win, or find the one that is right for you. However there are more people out there that you might match with and maybe decide that you don’t just want one and have 5 or matches. People might just say why have one partner if I can have more. Looking at this article on How Technology is Changing Dating, your love life choices can have consequences further down the line in terms of our attitudes towards not only on our partners but also in terms of the scale we seek validation.
Another problem that is changing dating, is the pandemic we are going through with having potential partners online. People who would choose to use dating apps would have to meet other people that were close in the area where they lived. The author Ahiza asked a citizen named Sara K. Runnels about her dating life before the pandemic. This is what Ahiza got “light vetting and then suggest meeting for a cocktail at a bar down the street from her downtown Seattle apartment…The 35-year-old recently relocated from New York City and doesn’t have a car, so proximity was key. She typically limits her matches to only those within a two-mile radius”(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dating-during-coronavirus-turned-upside-everything-long-distance-relationship-n1175741).
This piece of evidence shows that she had a hard time finding someone to go on a date with because of the transportation she didn’t have. But now since you can’t go out, she has more chances with others because now everything is long distance. Runnels is now one of millions of Americans navigating the new dating world in a society now defined by virtual hangouts, working from home and social distancing. The new normal has changed things for both singles looking for love and those in long-distance relationships. Remote working has presented a rare loophole for some couples in long-distance relationships, allowing them to isolate together since “home” can be anywhere that has an internet connection. Katie Mitchell, who is 30, lives in Singapore. Her boyfriend, Lukas Weigel, who is 31, lives more than 6,000 miles away in Hamburg, Germany. The couple were on vacation in early March when the outbreak escalated, and it became clear to Mitchell he wouldn’t be able to return home.
Now, for the first time since going long distance in March 2019, they’ve been able to spend roughly five weeks together. “It’s been the radiant light in this very cloudy and uncertain time,” Mitchell said. The couple have been doing well and they both treated this as a trail, which would make a big decision in their future. “now we know, we’re not only able to share a life and a home together, but we can even manage to do so when all we have is that shared space,’ Mitchell said. This evidence shows how the pandemic made their dating life better than it was before. The pandemic was one solution for dating in the future, because it tests couples their loyalty and communication which is key in a relationship.
Back then dating was more romantic than it is now. Although it has its ups and downs just like dating now. Back then people went out and asked parents for permission to date their child. But parents were more strict on who their children dated. Dating became a thing in the 20th century and the parents had to choose a man that was suitable for their daughter and was the same or higher social status. When the parents or the daughter have chosen a man they approve of, the couple would only be seen doing things together as a couple only at social gatherings or in their household. Back then there was no such thing as going out on a date. However that all started to change in the early 20th century.
Couples started to go out together in public without any supervision. If a young man wanted to take a young woman out there was a protocol they would have to follow. The protocol was that the young man would go to the family’s home, and hoped that the family would welcome him into their home. If the family did and wanted him to come, he would be able to. Only if he followed the hours the young woman’s parents gave him. Twenty years later this system was outdated, because people didn’t like it. For example the article says that “Dating had almost completely replaced the old system of calling by the mid-1920s — and, in so doing, had transformed American courtship”(https://www.thelist.com/62575/dating-changed-last-100-years/). This piece of evidence shows that during this time couples went out on dates and the man ended up having to pay for every single date they go on. This ended up changing relationships between a young man and a young woman. Now it is the man’s job to pay for dates whereas before the women decided the terms of when a young man visited. A pro when dating came in was that it focused on love and not just society-approved match. Before dating was introduced love was not important in a marriage. However once it was introduced it increased the desire for romance and love in marriage, and made your partner show how committed they are in the relationship.
When comparing and contrasting these two ideas of dating you can see how over time relationship and dating have changed immensely. Because back then people were more romantic and showed their commitment to their significant other. But nowadays we rely on dating apps but also we have a certain type we are looking for. However we always ask ourselves What does the other person want? Are they looking for something real or are they just trying to have fun? Are there any mind games going on here? Today’s dating is weird but also we can find love through dating apps or in weird situations.
