I posted to my Facebook the other day that \u201cI will fall in love when a man calls me instead of texting, and gifts a book instead of flowers\u201d.\u00a0 It seems that dating these days has turned into a clich\u00e9 where people don\u2019t really connect anymore.\u00a0 I was chatting with my ex boyfriend in our long 4 hour drive home from Tahoe, and he and I had different views on love (it\u2019s no wonder things didn\u2019t work out with us).\u00a0 He believes in soul mates, and I believe that we choose our partners and fight to make it work.\u00a0 What we agreed on is that our generation does not work hard enough in relationships and we want the instant gratification that we can get with food and technology, but not from other human beings.<\/p>\n
Because I have been thinking about this I recently found and read two articles about dating in our new technology centered world. Abra Cohen, a freelance writer for the Huffington post, has an interesting view in her article \u201cModern Dating, Decoded<\/a>\u201d about how we have become dependent on technology for dating interactions.\u00a0 We text instead of call, check our phones constantly, and look to have meaningless relationships, but we are not capable of actually doing that.\u00a0 In the end, we all need the affection and physical closeness that we think we don\u2019t want or need.<\/p>\n Ramona Pringle, host of ridgitallife and faculty at Ryerson University, actually touches on the same idea that we think we do not need other people to be happy in her article \u201cBreaking \u2018the Rules\u2019: Finding Love in the Digital Age.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 She says that \u201cin many ways we were raised to be single. Our generation was taught that independence was the gold standard\u201d As an economist, the gold standard is actually the opposite of independence (it\u2019s giving up your ability to control monetary policy in the country), but I get what she means.\u00a0 We have been taught to be independent, and to not depend on anyone else for our wellbeing or happiness.\u00a0 The problem with this is that we do need others to e happy.\u00a0 We were made to have physical closeness with other humans.<\/p>\n The question is, how do we move forward from here?\u00a0 How do we learn how to be co-dependent again?\u00a0 How do we learn to put effort into relationships?\u00a0 What needs to happen in society to make marriages work again?\u00a0 Or do we abandon the idea altogether?\u00a0 How do I teach my daughter to love so that she does not end up facing a future of being alone?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I posted to my Facebook the other day that \u201cI will fall in love when a man calls me instead of texting, and gifts a book instead of flowers\u201d.\u00a0 It seems that dating these days has turned into a clich\u00e9 … Continue reading