Damaged Dating

Dating has never been as easy as bumping into a tall, dark stranger in a bar full of sexy singles, but in an age where we can access anything at the click of a button, is our dating life simplified? Unfortunately not. Let’s have a look at the 12 ways technology has screwed over our dating life.

1.Meeting potential suitors – Having an online shopping type of dating site à la Tinder seems great. Quickly and effectively you can swipe through and either tick anyone you fancy or cross anyone that revolts you, super! However, remember he has picked those five heavily filtered pictures with military precision and probably got his wittier friend to write up his bio. He would have definitely missed out the fact that he likes to bite his toenails.

2.Appearances are everything - If your ‘Average Joe’ struck up a cyber chin-wag with you, would you reply? Probably not. If you met him at a bar, however, he might have a winning charm that you can’t experience online.

3.The agonising need to come across as cool - Once you actually start dating you can’t come across too keen. Although you want to read the end of his WhatsApp message, you couldn’t possibly appear online. You’re too busy pretending to be busy.

4.You never speak on the phone - If you meet someone online there’s a large chance that you won’t even know what they sound like before you meet them in real life. What if he ends up sounding something like Janice from Friends? OH. MY. GOD. You’re going to have such a glorious evening, sister.

5.You become an option - Everyone is in reach at the touch of a button and either their friends or perhaps a romantic interest with more promise, could over-ride your existing plans. It depends which option is going to be more interesting, fun and worthy of a braggy Facebook update.

6.You could potentially come across as a creep - Is it acceptable to like every picture on Instagram? Favourite every tweet? You want to show them that you’re interested in what they’re doing but was it necessary to like that photo of his nan cooking Sunday lunch?

7.The constant checking of your phone - Do not re-send that message, it’s not 2004 anymore and messages don’t get lost on their journey to his Nokia 3310. If he hasn’t replied it’s because he hasn’t replied.

8.There are more chances for people to be sneaky and cheat - It might be some innocent liking, it might be some innocent SnapChatting, but private messages are private for a reason, to hide those late night sexts.

9.You don’t really get to know someone until you spend time with them - People are scared to let go and so they carefully create their online profiles to show the best/funniest/most interesting sides of themselves. A lot of the time people are a watered down version of their online selves.

10.The guessing game - You may not know exactly how someone is feeling about you or their dating situation until they post a cryptic tweet, a ‘meaningful’ quote or the lyrics of a song. Good luck piecing the puzzle together. 

11.There are more opportunities for people to get into the way of your relationship - That boy who likes every single one of your selfies? Yeah, the guy you’re dating isn’t going to appreciate that. Even if you are linked romantically via relationship status on Facebook, that isn’t going to stop that girl from messaging your man.

12.The end of a relationship – This already difficult situation becomes more like throwing a piece of meat into a cage of hungry lions. So brutal. People can avoid the awkwardness of being in the company of a snotty, crying girl and cut ties on the phone or through a carefully worded text. Then they can delete your number and completely forget about you guilt free. Fun, huh?

*This post is something I wrote for the magazine I did for my Final Major Project at uni. Hope you enjoyed it!