Have you ever thought about how dating has changed so much over the years? Our grandparents and parents experienced a totally different dating scene than that of which we experience today. Our elders grew up with different rules, manners, morals and they also (in my opinion) had more respect for each other. Of course we get the occasional “mishaps of dating"; there are some in every generation, but why is it that our generation has so much trouble in the “dating scene"?

Back in our elder’s teen and college days, they were taught how to speak to others with respect, with kindness, how to be a lady and how to be a gentleman. Now-a-days, we have girls/women walking around with no intentions of receiving respect from a male, or even female, figure. But how did it happen this way? Where did it all go wrong?

We have become the generation of impaired social skills and one that relies strongly on social media and the virtual connection to others. There are multiple pros and cons on how social media (Tinder, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.) is affecting the current dating scenes but that’s a whole other story in itself.

Men used to cherish a lady and see her as a special, treasured item. I am familiar with a handful of guys that do the same now, but I have seen more guys who are extremely disrespectful than I have kind ones; especially in college. However, men are not the only ones who have changed over the years. Women, now, do not really “dress to impress” but they almost “dress to give away", they talk with a dirty mouth and have become more and more independent due to the lack of strong, loving men in their lives or simply just because they were raised that way. Women are starting to lose their sense of self-worth. They do not see their true power so they begin to think that they are less than what they really are.

Because of the change in behavior between the sexes, current dating is seen as more of a chore than an enjoyable way to get to know someone. In this generation, it is considered strange if a women has self-confidence and respect or if a man has the guts to ask someone out on a real date. In this generation, dating has stages; the "getting to know someone" stage, the "talking" stage, and (if they finally ask you out officially) the dating stage. Majority uses "talking" as a way to say, "Hey! I like you a lot and I will spend a great amount of time with you but there may be other matches coming along and it will give me an easy way out to say that we never dated."

Dating has changed over the years in good and bad ways; good because we are easily connected to the world around us and millions of people who are wanting to meet new people also and bad because it causes us to come into a habit of miscommunication.

Men and women are struggling with the basic skill of pure human interaction. Go talk to that pretty girl/lady that you see at the library and go talk to that handsome boy/man who you have class with. For all you know, you may even benefit from the real interaction between the human and yourself.