Recently I read an interview The AV Club did with Aziz Ansari. He has been doing some research for his new tour on love and relationships in this day and age. His research yielded some pretty depressing results (though he stays optimistic about love). Essentially, meeting people these days is tough. Our short attention spans focus on whatever electronic device is in front of us and we miss out on potential interactions with people. Instead of taking notice of people at bus stations, coffee shops, and other places we put all of our attention in to our phones and computers.
If you do manage to meet someone, there are entirely new rules to follow with technology etiquette and so many new ways to ruin the relationship. What types of conversations are meant to be had via text? Is it only superficial conversations or can more serious topics be discussed? How often are you supposed to talk to someone when you are first dating them? How long do you have to wait to add someone on Facebook to not seem like a stalker? All of these questions can determine whether a relationship makes it or not these days.
A new communication system means new rules. Communication is constantly evolving too, with new technology or a new social networking site, everything is in flux. Not to mention there is an entire new dimension of dating online or dating apps. With all of this, does anyone really stand a chance in relationships these days? Ansari notes how jealous he is of people who can meet their dates through school or work. So that made me think, are we really the lucky ones?
As college students, we should be having exciting dating lives. But is the Millennial Generation living up to its dating life potential? Technology has done a great deal to bring people together, but it might actually be what is stopping real connections from being made. To see if this is really the case I decided to test out all the different ways relationships start these days and see if technology is helping or hurting love lives. I’ll focus on meeting people in classes, meeting people through friends, and using online dating sites. How is each method affected by technology? In college, the students form an entire sub-community from the rest of the town. They have their own set of rules and norms to follow. Will being a college student make any of these methods more or less likely to be successful? We’ll see what the research reveals in my next post.
Kate can be reached at [email protected].
