From staring into each other’s eyes to staring into each other’s texts (constantly analyzing what it means), from holding hands-on the first date to going second base in the first few hours, from asking for phone numbers to asking for Snapchat usernames, from dinner and a movie to Netflix and chill( we all know what that’s code for), and from love at first sight to love at right swipe, we have teleported into the modern world of dating. Dating apps like Tinder and Grindr have led some of us to believe that classrooms and coffee shops are no longer places to meet our potential partners. Social networking sites (SNS) and dating apps have brought in the new era of romance. Whether some of us old-school lovers like to admit this fact or not but stories like “I met him on Tinder and now we’re getting married!!” do exists.
I don’t claim people who find love on the internet do not ever find true love, but often the road to finding love online is based on pretentious talks and lies. The question is: since we’re so doomed and desperate to find love at the right swipe, are we forgetting to be our authentic self? Or are we just projecting an image we think our potential partner would be interested in? I have been a victim of the online dating world too and like many other people, I have pretended to like shows I have merely heard of and I have pretended to be an outgoing person whereas even my Saturday night plans include my book and my blanket. All these make-believe talks did lead me to more compliments and guys finding me “cool”, but it also led me to put on a mask which ultimately made it difficult for me to breathe.
Yet I still found love and I found it at a party. We started talking online but the only thing different this time was, I shared my true self with him. I thank my lucky stars every night because no guy has ever loved me as he does. At the end of the day, don’t we all want someone to love us for who we really are? To love us on our best outfit days and to love us during our “just woke up” face. So, whether you find love at the next swipe or you find it sitting across the classroom, try to be yourself. If his/her favorite TV show is ‘Brooklyn nine-nine’, doesn’t mean it has to be your favorite TV show too.