How 2020 Changed Dating Forever
When did saying ‘hello’ to someone at a bar become weird?
There is no question that dating changed during the 2020 pandemic, online dating was the only kind of dating! But now that the world is slowly returning back to normal, how come dating isn’t? How come we can return to concerts, and parties and can’t approach someone closer than 6 feet and say hello without it being creepy or being caught off guard?
As a single woman in her early 30’s I can fully attest to the statement that online dating is exhausting. You find someone who is mutually physically attracted to you, you exchange hello’s and explain your hobbies again, only to be ghosted 3 days later and start the process over again. It also forces the basis of your relationship to be started based on physical appearance! While physical attraction is obviously an important part of a relationship, you are deciding who is able to have a conversation with you strictly on their pictures and 1 sentence bio. Is that not mind-blowing to anyone?!
I find myself often times too, swiping with friends! Shame on me, I know, allowing my friends to help decide whose face deserves a conversation with me, but the process can be so exhausting at times that I would much rather pass it off to someone else for a bit, who maybe knows my type. This, in a sense, creates what I like to call ‘Team Dating’, where your friends are in on the decision of who gets that lucky right swipe! To think of how unfair that is, makes me cringe! Maybe we just passed on a really great person because my friend said his beard was too long or his ears were too big. Those things really wouldn’t matter with someone you had a real connection with, but he will never have a shot because his pictures weren’t ideal. How ridiculous!
Now would this type of rejection have happened in person if he were to walk up to me and start talking (pre-2020 of course)? Absolutely not! But the world of virtual dating has given people the ability to hide behind their screens and keyboards, and say or do things they wouldn’t normally do in person.
Times are changing and with the year we spent on lockdown, with no other way to date safely except virtually, the method of ‘old school dating’ and meeting people organically in person at the grocery store or bar is almost unheard of now. People were exposed to an easier, quicker, and lazier way of dating, and unfortunately, now that is the new norm! So wishing the best of luck to all of us struggling to date organically in our 30’s, as it’s time for us to get with technology and adjust to this new normalcy of dating.
