When was the last time you and your significant other went out on a date? When was the last time you actually went to dinner and a movie or took a walk through the park? Call me old fashion but what the hell happened to actual dating? When did we become a society dominated by online dating, random Tinder hookups, and Netflix and chill nights? Worse yet, when did ‘hanging out’ become a date?
Hanging out with your family and friends is fine, or if you are in the beginning stages of a relationship that’s okay too. But once you actually start dating, ask her/him out on a date. Don’t ask them to ‘hang out.’ Say “Hey, I’m going to the mall later today to look at or shop for (fill in the blank). Do you want to come with me?” or “Will you have dinner with me Friday night?”
Millennials and twenty somethings alike have become a generation that no longer date. The last ‘date’ that I was on was over two years ago, and even then I wouldn’t really call it a date. It was a ‘Tuesdays are my days to clean but we can hang out at the house’ kind of thing.
Okay… I am all for spending time with someone and doing things with them but when it’s every single time? And you only actually go out twice in public during said relationship? I’m going to start seeing red flags and start thinking that a) you must find me pretty damn ugly if you don’t want to be seen in public with me, b) you are in no way at all serious about this relationship or me, or c) you’ve got yourself another girl on the side and you don’t want her to know about me.
Dating in the world we live in today is different than it was forty years ago. Hell, even ten years ago. Most of us are busy starting careers and getting higher education degrees. We are ridiculously poorer than the generation before us, thanks in large part to the amount of student loan debt we find ourselves in. Trying to get out and do things that require money is almost impossible nowadays. However, just because we are poor, debt ridden twenty somethings doesn’t mean we can’t date. Get creative people! Use your imaginations! Work those brains! Need some ideas? Check out Style Caster’s 30 Free Date Ideas That (Actually) Don’t Suck.
You know what else is hard about dating in 2017? Too. much. texting! We text our families. Our friends. Our significant others. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good text once in a while, especially if I am having a rather shitty day and it makes the day better, but sometimes there are just things that should not be texted (we all know what those things are) and things that require an actual conversation. In person. Face to face. Maybe over coffee. You know what else is nice? Not texting someone to ask them out. Pick up the phone and make that call! And don’t even think about texting your date “I’m here” when you arrive to pick them up. Get out of the car, go up to the door, and ring the damn bell.
There are so many negatives about trying to date in the 21st century that most of us don’t bother to try or we panic when we actually find someone who might just change our minds. It’s gotten to the point where we’ve decided to settle and accept the situation rather than insist the situation change. Dating has become nonexistent because we’ve lowered our standards and for those of us who don’t or refuse to accept the current ‘dating’ situation, we’ve become ‘prudes’ or ‘idealists’ living in a fantasy world. In reality? We just have more self respect and will continue to wait for that person to change our minds about dating in the year 2017.
