Courtship To Online Dating: The Changing Dynamics Of Love & Relationships In La

By Author: Kruti mehara
Total Articles: 2
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Long long ago, Los Angeles was a very happy place, with no traffic issues and love running through everyone’s veins. Cut short to the present, now the city is all about dissatisfied millennials, tired of their fully committed relationships with roads and highways and nobody to crawl back home to. That’s right, all you get here is people swiping constantly on their phones with growls of frustration and cars honking their horns out amidst the tall palm trees. There was a time when love just happened. Well now, it’s a luxury considering the never ending first-last dates and the matchmakers $6000. Relationships back in the day were about trust, commitment, growing together and loving each other through the thick and things. Today, if you have a relationship lasting more than 2 months, consider yourself lucky.

The dynamics of relationships changed when courtship became ‘dating’ and then online dating came into play. From finding love to breaking up, everything begins online. Things start with googling the “best dating app for girls in Los Angeles” or the “best dating app ...
... for boys in Los Angeles” and downloading the ‘suitable app’ (tinder doesn’t count). Then you swipe, match, go on a date (borderline miraculous) and usually never see each other again. From impressing the guy, to looking for excuses to breakup, Google’s your man! (because ‘the right man’ is still 999999 matches away). Gone are those days when people used their hearts to think of elaborate romantic gestures and went to their girl best friends for dating advice. Now you have everything online, be it groceries or a date. PS: - GOOGLE IS GOD
The word online reminds me of the one and only Instagram. #couplegoals has to be there in your caption even if it doesn't exist in your relationship. It’s all about increasing the ‘aww so cute’ comments and getting more than 500 likes and nothing about cherishing the moments you spend together (because capturing them is way more important). Whether fulfillment in a relationship exists or not, a perfect insta post with your ‘bae’ has to be there on your timeline. Relationships sadly aren’t about love anymore, but how loving they look on social media.

Lastly, the increasing number of singles in LA isn’t because of social media or dating apps alone, it's because of their approach that has drastically changed towards relationships. With hundreds of dating apps in running and probably another hundred ready for launch, people have so many options to choose from. Sticking to just one and building something meaningful with them becomes tough when you can’t stop looking for something better. With ‘paradox of choice’ in play, the psychological impact of digital dating has been so bad that stability and contentment never seems to cross paths with Angelenos anymore. To those who argue by quoting the marriages of some of their friends that happened after they met online, well I’m gonna politely ask them to stick around with a good divorce lawyer’s contact because they’ll be giving out references pretty soon.
Cheers to technology and new age dating!!