10 Reasons Dating Is Only Going To Get Worse

1. The fact that technology and the ways we communicate have made it so incredibly easy to ignore someone you’re not interested in. Think — in the past you’d ask people out face to face or over the phone and if they weren’t feeling it, they wouldn’t just stand there in silence with a blank expression until you walked away or hung up. A response of some sort was given. Now you can ignore a text message or even leave them with that cold blooded ‘✓ seen by’ on Facebook as you go on about your life figuring they’ll get the hushed hint.

2. When we don’t ignore those we have zero interested in, we lie to ’em. You can call it sugarcoating or letting them down gently or stretching the truth, but ultimately it’s lying. Now, you may have good intentions and not want to hurt feelings but when so-and-so asks you to dinner and you reply “I’m actually busy that day” or whatever excuse comes to mind, it gives poor-person-you-don’t-want-dinner-with false hope. This is somewhat understandable because nobody wants to break someone’s spirit but it’s certainly an epidemic that needs some sort of cure.

3. Plans have become a rarity because nobody wants to commit to one invite when there are constantly brand new, impromptu offers popping up on social media or in their phone at a moment’s notice. Drinks tomorrow evening? But, but… Saturday night is such a hot commodity, so maybe? I’ll text and let you know!

4. Cheating nowadays is just like, meh, no big deal. It’s become the equivalent of accidentally breaking someone’s valuable belonging – a fuss may be made but often times it’s forgiven, especially if alcohol was involved because what better scapegoat than cocktails? It’s truly frightening how casually folks will hookup with someone who isn’t their significant other and conveniently wait until the moment they get busted to feel remorse.

5. Facebook allows us to witness seemingly EVERYONE’S break-up firsthand. The subliminal statuses, the sad song posts, the back-and-forth bickering, the complete misery. Having social media is like working concierge at The Heartbreak Hotel and once you’ve seen how dissatisfied all the customers are, it’s scary to risk booking a lengthy stay there yourself. 

6. Let’s face it, many members of this generation are admittedly self-absorbed and to be with another person (and actually try to make it work) requires a great deal of selflessness. Simply put: more and more people are entirely too openly selfish to be a part of a relationship.

7. People are more uncomfortable, jittery and anxious about approaching or interacting with someone in person because we’ve relied so much on social media that we forget how to use our mouth and brain to form a coherent sequence of words. It’s become remarkable to witness a person who is good at conversation because many are tongue-tied and awkward. This could be fixed by face-to-face mingling until you’re comfortable, but it can’t get to that point if everyone’s to nervous to introduce themselves and begin talks in the first place.

8. Naïve individuals want to live a still image. The romantic photos they see circulating Tumblr, Instagram or what have you are posed, filtered & Photoshop’d moments that people want an entire relationship’s worth of. You aren’t always going to be as happy as the kissing couple, there’s guaranteed adversity that the quote about unconditional love isn’t going to mention and sadly, life won’t be lived through X-Pro II. People get so captivated by the beauty of a Pinterest post that they’ve come to expect perfect relationships and the instant it’s not chirping birds and fireworks they pull the plug.

9. The friend zone is an actual thing to some people. A lot of people. This is just my personal observation, but several of the relationships I see work began as friendships – often platonic, lengthy ones. Why is friendship so frowned upon? Why is it incredibly horrible and offensive if somebody wants to hangout with you, but not romantically? So often feelings change, things evolve and friends develop into more than that. Sometimes they don’t. Either way, unless you are in love with that person and can’t stand to be around them while they see other people, a friendly relationship is nothing to be insulted by, and could be the beginning of an unforeseeable, special future.

10. The market is highly competitive and I don’t mean strictly amongst people – have you seen how many folks are openly satisfied spending weekends in soft pants with pizzas, wine, Netflix, couches, ice cream, and not another human? Let that sink in and think about the pressure for a second: to win over a person this day and age you’ve got to be more appealing than over 100,000 titles, a comfortable piece of furniture and an abundance of snacks. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. By join ‘em I mean sign up for Netflix.

Pro tip: Occasionally use the Domino’s Pizza Tracker so you feel like your boo is on their way over and giving you up to the minute info on his/her whereabouts.