What was dating like before the age of the internet 🛜?

[Dat-Alpha-Lion]

[Lliam]

You had to meet a potential date through friends, school, work, in the neighborhood, or when you were out in the real world.
It wasn't hard.
Both men and women were interested in finding partners. They would scope people out and say "he (or she) is cute", or he's handsome or she's hot. They weren't measuring dick size, checking virginity, "body count" or income.
You assessed people based on their personality, behavior, lifestyle and friends. If they had loose morals or low self-respect, you knew.

People weren't on-line, scouring the entire planet to find the top 0.1% people to suit their insane fantasies. They were looking for nice, normal people. "Normal" and "average" didn't mean sub-par and weren't pejoratives. There weren't "alpha men" or 10/10 women except in the eyes of two people who idolized each other.

A girl might flirt or send out signals. A guy might ask her out. They went on dates to get to know each other and see if they were a good match. They didn't fuck around texting and interviewing each other for weeks or months on end. People weren't weird. They weren't afraid of their own shadows. And they weren't unrealistically picky.

People knew what it meant to be male and female. There was some general understanding of how men and women behaved and treated each other.

There was no potential for over-the-top, #MeToo bullshit. Women could fend for themselves unless they were physically attacked.

Most women had jobs and supported themselves, but toxic forms of feminism were pretty nonexistent. Women appreciated being treated like ladies.

Men hadn't picked up bizarre attitudes toward women by listening to bad advice from manosphere influencers who are the male equivalent of the most misandrist of feminists. There was no such thing MGTOW. A guy who hated women or was afraid of being abused by them was a weirdo.

Homosexuals and transvestites stayed to themselves and there was no such thing as trans-fucking-sexuality.

There was no Jerkmate, Live Jasmine or other cam sites to worry about. The only available porn was on VHS, DVD or magazines.
Guys couldn't send dick pics. People couldn't share nude photos or videos on-line.
People's sexual fetishes weren't on display, discussed or celebrated.

So things were pretty innocent and straight forward. It was far more mentally healthy.

[exitseven]

You had to go out and meet people. It was always just a big crap shoot. You could go to clubs or join groups where you might meet somebody and never find somebody that was nice that also wanted to go out with you. Then you meet somebody at the checkout line at the supermarket and suddenly you have a date next Saturday.

You had to put a lot if effort into the date. You had to make yourself presentable and be punctual. Manners were important too. Profanity was a no no. And the guy always paid, it was never a question.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[Nikki1989]

Who needs the internet to date.

Look out your front door, there are people everywhere.

[Dinklex3]

Dated people in school, the neighborhood, or who we met at the mall.

[Vegasrunner]

Great question. It was a little more difficult for guys, simply because you couldnt cast as wide of a net. However there was a lot less drama because women weren't able to track and follow you so easily. Also women had to actually do something in order to get chosen.

[Kaneki05]

Pretty sure most people getting divorced in their 40s got together before online dating. So we can't really know how it's changed things until ya know Gen Z is 40.
I would imagine it's gonna be more or less the same.

[DrPepper12]

SO MUCH BETTER!!! Face to face ask out n break up. Real creativity in dating. More sex earlier. Friends opinions REALLY mattered about prospects. Women could hold a combo on a wider circle of things. It was just better.

[jahaims]

Speed dating/match making companies, meeting people in social settings like work, through mutual friends etc.

[itsclearlynicholas]

Much like that photo. Probably arcades, the mall, or house parties or doing... nothing...

[Awesomesauce2005]

Almost definatley better in every aspect im sure.

[msc545]

Probably a LOT more fun than it is now if you can even do it at all...

[mandyfire98]

Probably healthier lol.

[DishLady]

Sweeter, more innocent, slower pace.

[RetroReviews]

Better, the internet ruined a lot of things

[mistershy94]

That was dating, what we have now is speed dating