What ever happened to the Golden Age of dating: going out to the diner for milkshakes, watching movies in the theater without the pressure of having to neck, talking to each other over the phone while mom listens in on the other line, partaking in abstinence, getting to know one another before reaching any bases? 

Everything now moves so fast that it’s hard to tell exactly who is dating whom at any moment. People get together, break up, and move on in less time than it takes to send a Snapchat message reading, “your cool but i decided i dont want a boyfriend right now :/”. 

In my opinion, dating should be about finding someone with whom you can talk to for hours and hours about anything, someone you can laugh with, and someone you can trust before ever having to face the pressure of a relationship. So many people seem to hook up, “talk,” and hang out just for the excuse of finding a way to pass some time, but does it ever last? 

Social media has turned everything into a wasteland of conversations. Where there once was talking on the phone for hours, there is now a blackhole of conversation formed by Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Social media is nothing but a place where teens talk about dating or talk about hanging out but never actually have the nerve or desire to follow through.  

What ever happened to the Golden Age of dating? Gone is the anticipation of waiting for the phone to ring and being afraid to leave the house out of fear you might miss that extremely important call from that special someone. Gone is the 30-minute phone conversation every evening that satisfied a teenager’s need for relationship contact out of school. Gone is the Saturday night date: “Pick you up at 6 for dinner and a movie, better be home by curfew.” Gone is the guy coming to the door filled with the excitement of meeting your parents. 

Oh yes, the infamous “talking” stage—you talk every day, hang out, and even have feelings for the person, but just cannot make that huge commitment of actually being exclusive. We all know it too well, but when that seems to fail, the quickest solution is to “ghost” the other person. You go from talking constantly and hanging out every once in a while, to going completely off the radar and seeming as if you just disappeared. But no worries, you were only talking anyways! 

There is always that extreme amount of excitement when you meet a new person and get “butterflies”, but we can all relate to how quickly those feelings fade. Teens constantly go from person to person trying to keep that feeling alive, with the hope that that person may be better than all the rest when, in reality, that feeling of something new will fade with time.  

This generation finds the act of dating overrated because wouldn’t it just be more fun to talk to multiple people rather than finding only one and genuinely caring? It has turned into the extended version of “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” where everyone talks to 30 different people with the hopes that maybe one will work out without another finding out.    

What ever happened to the Golden Age of dating? Maybe the old way of dating was not perfect, but there is a bit of comfort in the stereotypical image of two people taking it slow and really learning to respect each other first.  Be patient, avoid the rush, DATE, and get to know someone—really know someone—beforehand.