It seems to me that wherever I look I see some new article or book or discussion about how young people don’t date anymore. And according to this Op-Ed piece by Charles Blow called The Demise of Dating, it appears that he believes that perhaps we don’t know how to date. Typically I would argue that there are people that know how to date but as a twenty-something with a fair number of single friends, I’d say if you aren’t already in a very serious relationship I’m not sure that the rest of the population in our age group knows how to date.

Seriously, it’s a little disheartening. And I’ve had my fair share of hookups but I think I’m a little “over it” as they say. Quite a few of my friends and I have been having a very similar discussion about dating because, well it seems to be increasingly confusing. At least from my experience, what I’ve found is that no one is really willing to take the time to get to know another person. I mean I constantly ask, why do I have to take you home if I’m interested in you? Because really, if I were interested, I would ask for your number and call you the next day. I wouldn’t take you home with me that same night. To me, taking you home the same night I meet you signifies a very, very shallow, superficial level of interest, one that does not involve exchanging phone numbers or a call back… ever.

I know so many people who have started their relationships by “hooking up” but I don’t really understand it. I can understand it as a one-off, something unexpected that just happened to turn out well but not as a rule of thumb. I mean if you really like someone what ever happened to asking them out on a date? Actually trying to get to know the person, see if you really like them. It’s just interesting that the “hook up” culture has become so ingrained in society that we don’t even remember what it’s like to date for real. And it seems more and more people are noticing that.