As the culture evolves with each era that occurs in the world, society evolves as well. This evolution encompasses the way that humans interact with each other. Language changes, actions change, reactions change. In this “Age of Technology” that the world is currently immersed in, communication has done a complete one-eighty. In this society, texting is the social norm. Humans constantly need to be in communication with each other in order to feel “wanted” and “complete.” This whole notion has also brought upon a change in romantic relationships. A gap between full commitment and being alone was born from this new age. This is the Era of Talking.
The concept of a relationship has changed significantly in the past few centuries, and even in the past few decades. In the Victorian period of society, a relationship was called a courtship and “the notion of two people falling madly in love and running away into the night, regardless of the opinions of their families or plan for the future was not something commonplace to the upper and middle class”(Jones). Romance was not common in this era, and marriage was more of a career choice. This changed drastically in the 20th century, when life became more informal and less strict. Women started wearing casual clothes and marriages were not arranged. Throughout the twentieth century, and even in the early twenty first century, a couple did not have to be in constant communication to be considered “together”. Letter writing was big, especially during the wars when men were sent to different countries, and when telephones were in the average household, a phone call every few days would suffice. In the 20th century, dating meant actually going on dates. There were different names for relationships throughout the twentieth century, one of the best being “going steady”. A guy would ask a girl on a date, if they hit it off, then they would go on more dates and would be considered “dating.” There was no constant texting, or anxiety when there was no text back. There was only true communication and feelings.
In today’s society, the fear of commitment is extremely evident in the interactions between potential relationships. Either people are too afraid to be in a relationship or people are too afraid not to be in a relationship. This is where “talking” comes into play. To try and define talking is difficult; talking is a step before being in a relationship but a step after being friends. The two people that are “talking” are together, but not exclusive. They have established that they have feelings that are more than just friendly, but are not quite ready to take that step towards commitment. The young adults of today are influenced by celebrity culture in which everyone is always breaking up or getting divorced. Even without celebrity culture, the divorce rate is extremely high, and young people are afraid to get into relationships that will end. This period of “talking” allows these “non-couples” to feel out the situation to see if it might last. However, this also takes the excitement out of the relationship if the talking eventually becomes one. The whole point of dating someone is to get to know them completely, on a physical, spiritual and emotional level. “Talking” eliminates that excitement of getting to know someone. The best relationships occur spontaneously, without months of talking, because one can learn something new about their significant other every single day, which keeps the spark in the fire.
For the sake of future relationships, The Era of Talking needs to pass. This fear of commitment and the unknown that is so widespread needs to evolve into the courage to take that next step with a person. Down with “talking!”