Just two days ago, I opened my Facebook page to pictures of a beaming bride and a gushing groom. One of my high-school friends had gotten married to her boyfriend of two years. She had spent the weekend marrying the man of her dreams while I spent it downing margaritas and sleeping through Sunday with a cold compress on my head. While normally I hold nothing but disdain for teens who marry too young, seeing my old friend who was only a year older than I in a flowing white dress with a million dollar smile on her face was a bit eye-opening for me.I began to take stock of all the relationships I had had over the past two years. My list began with a string of committed and adoring long-term boyfriends and ended with a few straggling weekend long hookups. As I got older, my serious relationships became few and far between. What was I missing? What stood between me and a fairy-tale ending with a Prince Charming of my own?I finally came to my conclusion after several tubs of Ben and Jerry’s and a thorough read-through of some very revealing articles on CNN and Vanity Fair. What with all of the dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, and the dating sites like Match and Zoosk, the game has changed. There is a new easiness to finding a friend for the night, and with this comes the death of the classic dating scene. It’s almost like an innocence lost; a generation of baby boomers replaced by right swipers and serial daters. I am a long-time user and abuser of Tinder, and I can talk firsthand about how non-committal the dating format is in the app’s mainframe. But have no fear, ladies. This doesn’t mean that chivalry is dead. In my opinion, the popularity of the one-night stand has leveled the playing field for women.In the midst of all these hookups and FWB’s, there are still people like my friend and her boyfriend. There are still young people who are settling down early. Granted, the numbers are slimmer and there are still those of us who won’t marry at all (roughly 25% of us according to TIME), but for the rest of us, hope is still out there.After doing a bit of my own research, I felt relieved at my currently bleak relationship status. Though I was currently doomed to my serial dating fate, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel that is a mutually beneficial committed long-term relationship.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Alabama chapter.