Does anyone go on dates anymore? As far as I can tell, the general answer to that question is: “I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like it.”

As I’ve detailed before, many of my friends are serial killers so you wouldn’t expect them to be dating (per se), but it seems like dating has declined significantly over the past decade.  Here are some possibilities:

1) What’s the point? Other writers on this site have talked about the wealth of social media options available.  If you go on dates to get to know someone, you might as well also be using a knife and flint to start fire for your meals.  Like Bear Grylls.  Sweet.

2) Choice paralyzes action.  Related to the above and well documented on this site. When you have access to information about so many people, how can you choose? Throw in the fact that your making important choices about how to spend your time, which has paradoxically become more valuable (at least that’s the perception) even as we are able to accomplish tasks much more quickly, and you may just wind up spending a Friday night killing a bottle of whiskey by yourself.  Not that I have.

3) Finally, and perhaps the most important explanation of why dating seems downright “old-fashioned,” is: cliché-avoidance.  In a world where we prize asserting our special individuality through various technological forums, avoiding clichés becomes the most important aspect of standing out. Simply put, dinner and a movie just doesn’t cut it these days.  There’s a hyper sense of self-awareness that relegates dating to the ranks of the formerly cool.  Just like bell-bottoms, Reagan optimism, and Limp Bizkit, dating may have seen its best days go by.

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