Has the Digital Dating Landscape Turned Everyone Into Sniveling Cowards?

Fathoms77
Has the Digital Dating Landscape Turned Everyone Into Sniveling Cowards?

This goes for both men and women, by the way.

I'm aware that we live in an era where online dating is the norm. We're well beyond the likes of Match, as various "hook-up apps" are popping up everywhere and a few of them are insanely popular. Now, this has its benefits, especially for the logistically challenged (i.e., those who sort of live in the middle of nowhere), and there's safety in anonymity, provided everyone takes the proper precautions.

I'm all for that. However, it also seems as if digital "flirting" and dating has generated a younger generation of people who are just terrified of regular face-to-face interaction. You know, being humans. I mean, the entire reason for "Ghosting" is cowardice; there's no other explanation for simply going silent. You just can't face a confrontation and because you lack a spine, you simply run and hide like a six-year-old. Generally, we have now accepted that silence is the equivalent of a rejection, which is why so many frustrated singles live in this seemingly permanent haze of non-interaction. If someone isn't interested, they won't click your profile, won't respond to your message or text, etc.

The worst part is that these people take to the internet and bitch and moan. And if they're not bitching and moaning, they're whining about how hard everything is; how dating is heavily skewed in favor of females, or how all the douchebag men get the women, or how no matter what they do or how hard they try, they're left under this blanket of silence. That's cowardice on both sides: The guys or girls who refuse to put themselves on the line in a real social setting, and the other group who doesn't have the gumption to actually say "no" and instead lets silence do the "talking."

Has the Digital Dating Landscape Turned Everyone Into Sniveling Cowards?

Then there's the exceedingly weird element that has wormed its way into digital dating culture: The frightening importance people are placing on this faux interaction. Okay, so a complete stranger rejected you...now your life is over? The person in question is evil? Your self-image is completely shattered? How could anyone possibly care what a perfect stranger said - or, in the case of silence, didn't say - online? You don't know this person. They don't know you. The latter fact is critical because it means their rejection of you is essentially meaningless; they're likely only basing it on a few personal sentences and your pictures. So?

Now, it almost seems like everyone is paralyzed with fear over the entire process. Their already amazingly frail self-esteems are perpetually on the verge of falling into oblivion, they seem to have the most bizarre problems when they finally meet the person (problems that, to those of us who grew up TALKING TO PEOPLE, just seem insane), and they overreact to absolutely everything. It's almost as if the distance we've placed between ourselves with our screens has actually generated more fear, more self-consciousness, and more issues overall, especially in regards to romantic relationships.

Has the Digital Dating Landscape Turned Everyone Into Sniveling Cowards?

Either that, or the pervading hostility of the internet just seeps into absolutely every corner of the virtual space. Which I suppose is a distinct possibility. ;) My point is that becoming "involved" with someone online first may seem like a good idea; it's easier and less challenging overall. But in the end, it tends to stunt social growth and ability and perhaps creates more problems than it solves. My recommendation would be to interact more, with real people outside your door, while you're searching for that special someone online. And if you do find someone special, please don't think it's life and death, and don't spend the first two months doing nothing but text.

By the way, the last picture above scares the shit out of me. I see it a lot when I go out and it's just goddamn terrifying. If you don't understand why, that's your cue to get the hell outside and start acting human.

Has the Digital Dating Landscape Turned Everyone Into Sniveling Cowards?
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