It Seems Texting Only Makes Dating More Difficult
If you're single, you know the true horrors of dating. It's the worst. The great Jerry Seinfeld once summed it up nicely by explaining that a date is "a job-interview that lasts all night." "The only difference between a date and a job interview is: not many job-interviews is there a chance you'll end up naked at the end of it," added Seinfeld. No one wants to be on a date and go through the pre-dating dance of idiocy. Especially now that texting is so prevalent. In fact, according to a new survey, texting has only made things worse.
An online survey, conducted by ChristianMingle and JDate, two online dating websites, found that single people just don't know what the hell is going on. The report asked 2,647 single Americans, ages 18 to 59, about modern dating. The results were a collective shrugging of the shoulders. About 70 percent of singles reported being "somewhat confused" about whether an outing with another single was a date or not. This, despite 80 percent of people saying that "a planned one-on-one hangout," qualifies as one.
Rachel Sussman, a marriage and family therapist and licensed clinical Social Worker, told USA Today that confusion is rampant. And texting has a lot to do with that. "My clients are often telling me they're confused about whether they're on a romantic date or casual meet-up, which makes it difficult for them to go into the situation with a clear strategy," Sussman explained. "A planned evening with a group of friends or a 9 o'clock text — 'I'm at this bar. Want to come?' — that is now more considered a date or something romantic."
It's not surprising that texting has made the dating world even more ambiguous. Texting leaves a lot of room for interpretation, so sometimes things get lost in translation. Not only that, but there are about a million articles about the "Dos and Don'ts of Texting and Dating." One particularly stupid one offers advice like waiting hours to respond "so it seems like you're accomplishing something really impressive instead of sitting on the couch." Also, never texting first because "Do you want to always give 100 percent and only get 50 percent back? Of course you don't. You deserve better. You deserve a partner who cares. You deserve the first text every day."
With that kind of madness floating around, of course people are confused about texting and dating. Luckily for the world, the dating survey did find one non-grey area: Cheating. About 90 percent of men and 92 percent of women "consider having sex with another person repeatedly as being unfaithful in a relationship." Glad we cleared that up.
[Image via Flickr - Pat Pilon]
