While perusing through the Odyssey’s many articles, I came across one called “Why We Need To Start Dating Again” by Eileen Curran. Credit should always be given where credit is due, therefore, thank you, Eileen. Your words inspired me to write this article.

I love hearing older couples’ stories about how they met and when they first started dating. Typically, these stories consist of some grand romantic gesture from the man, sweeping the woman off her feet ending in their happy marriage. Stories about asking her out for ice cream and asking for permission to kiss her on the cheek, or showing affection by writing love notes. That culture of dating, dating in general for that matter, unfortunately, is diminishing. Hopeless romantic college students, such as myself, are sh*t out of luck if they’re looking for a hint of chivalry from the “men” of today, and here is why:

Nowadays, it seems as though “romance” is found after a couple shots of whatever’s on special at the bar, or in a college dorm room you quietly need to exit in the morning in order to make it to your 9am class looking somewhat put together. Not to mention, our generation has doctored up this new absurd phase in a relationship where two individuals are “talking.” Essentially, this means that the two casually hook up and text as if they were in a relationship, but don’t put a label on it just in case someone better comes along, they don’t want to tie themselves down to one person, or their fear of commitment wants to keep the relationship open so it can be broken off simply because “we were just talking, it doesn’t matter.”

It appears as though our generation dreads the idea of a relationship for no apparent reason. All this does is perpetuate the toxic hedonism among the millennial generation described above, accompanied by the “game” everyone seems to be playing where broken hearts are kept on shelves as trophies and are symbols of past conquests. We need to start dating again so that we may start becoming concerned with someone besides ourselves, so we can learn what it is to love, and be loved.

We need to start dating again to revive the art of getting to know someone, to bring butterflies out of extinction, along with the rest of all the decent men in the world who are actually single. I can’t remember the last time I went on a real date…you know like dinner and a movie, or a picnic in the park. On the rare occasion that a date does take place it’s painstakingly awkward. Conversation topics are scarce and often burn out quickly. People are always different on the other side of a phone than they are on the other side of a dinner table – and that’s a shame. We live in a social media-dominated age where all flirting is done via Snapchat or an app like Tinder, dates have been replaced with “Netflix and chill,” and lest we forget the “late night texts” we’ve all fallen victim to at some point or another. Let’s put an end to the debauchery which we pathetically call dating and make America really date again.