Impact of Social Media on Dating
Do you remember the time when you had to wait long hours in
the school garden just to see that one cute girl come out of the class? Well,
you don’t have to do that anymore. You can just stalk her on Instagram.
Social Media has changed the way we socialize and interact
with each other and dating is no exception. The social media has revolutionized
the dating game. Back in the old days when social media didn’t exist, dating
used to be so hard as you had to go on blind dates with total strangers, wait
for your crush to appear so you can approach her, or usually had to wait 3 days
for her to call you on your giant rotary home-phone. But it has all changed
now. Thanks to social media, socializing with others has never been easier.
In this article, I would discuss the ways in which social
media has changed the game of dating.
#1.
Convenience in contacting others.
Back in the old days, asking someone out was a very hard
thing to do and took a lot of courage. It required hours of practice in front
of a mirror and getting nervous was a norm. But today, social media has
completely changed the way we contact and communicate. It doesn’t even has to
be a face to face conversation when asking someone out. Social media has made
getting a date (and breaking up) as straightforward as the click of a mouse. Since
it has totally obsoleted the need to have face-to-face contact to ask someone
out, it has increased the tendency of people to date more. Living far away, a busy
timetable and absence of access to potential accomplices are no longer barriers
to dating.
#2.
Hooking up is easier.
Before the invention of social media, hooking up was not that
easy. You had to have a mutual friend to introduce you to someone or you had to
try a lot in some bar to score. But since the social media has been invented,
it has made hooking up a lot more convenient. Nowadays, matchmaker apps like
tinder can get you a partner in seconds with just few screen swipes. You don’t
have to go out and ask girls to date you, you just sit there on your couch
swiping through people available and you just tap the one you like and if she
likes you too, BINGO!
#3.
Less anonymity.
Before social media took over the world, there was a trend of
blind dates. People would fix you up with their friends that are total stranger
to you and you had to wear a specific wardrobe for them to recognize you. You
had to date a totally anonymous partner and that is dangerous to some extent
because you don’t know if the person you are going to blindly meet the next day
turns out to be a serial killer. However, with the invention of social media,
blind dates and anonymity has decreased because you can just go to your
partner’s social media profiles and stalk them to gather whatever information
you need to know.
#4.
Breakups are public.
Back in the days of no social media, people used to break up
privately and it took time for the news to reach other people. But nowadays,
breakups are mostly done in public. If you want to break up with someone, post
it on their wall. Although, it can be a little embarrassing. But when breakups
are done publicly, everyone can see that the person is available and
vulnerable, thus providing other’s opportunities to approach the person and
show empathy. Almost 70% of the time this results in the formation of new
relationships. Thus, it provides opportunities to form new relationships when
the previous ones are over and helps people move on.
#5.
Exchanging gifts/cards.
When there was no social media, people used to actually buy
greeting cards and gifts and had to go over to their partner’s house to give it
to them. But with the social media revolution in dating, there are tons of apps
that provide virtual gifts and greeting cards that you can exchange on special
occasions. Although, these virtual presents aren’t that valuable but couples
prefer it to avoid having to return gifts in the case of breakups.
#6.
Video Calling
Back in the old days, there was not even the slightest
concept of long distance relationships because there was no instant way to
contact over large distances. But social media has changed everything. These
days, there are a lot of ways to communicate with each other no matter how much
far they live. Video calling is one of the mostly used way to communicate in
long distance relationships as there are no other ways to interact face-to-face
with their partners. It’s so good that couples that are not far away from each
other also use video calling to talk to each other because it provides a great
experience and strengthens the bonds.
#7.
Activities Online.
In the old days, all the activities that couples could do
together to have fun required going out and paying for it. And the activities
were also very limited, they could either go to a picnic, or watch a movie, or
maybe a dinner date or a drive and that was it. But these days, all thanks to
the social media, there are a wide variety of activities that couples can do
together online and they don’t even have to pay for them. There are numerous
games online that the couples can play and there are other fun activities that
they can do online. There are also apps where couples can watch movies
together. Social Media provides a wide range of activities and a lot of them
don’t even require any payments!
In the end, we know that dating in the old days was fun but
it was pretty limited. And as we know, man is a social animal, therefore the
need to socialize will always be there. Social Media has greatly impacted the game
of dating. It has made it so much easier to socialize and connect with each
other that almost everyone is doing it and fulfilling their basic needs. Even
the people who were shy and couldn’t ask girls out face to face are benefitting
from social media techniques of dating. Thus, we can say that social media has
made dating more convenient and fun than it has ever been!
