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We talk about screen time hindering kids’ development today, but can we also admit that adults face their own problems with screen time? Maybe we don’t play as many video games or participate in the seemingly endless new array of social media platforms, but we spend a lot of time on one phone and laptop-based platform and that’s this: online dating. It seems that all of the meeting and greeting happens in apps these days. If you aren’t a good texter or expert DMer, you don’t even stand a chance out there. If you can’t represent yourself accurately and attractively using font and emojis and GIPHs, you’re screwed—but you won’t be doing any screwing. I fear that the better we get at communicating via little screens, the worse we get at doing that in real life. Here is how online dating makes us bad at dating in real life.
We want instant wit
Everyone seems so witty online. They can formulate their responses, editing, deleting, and perfecting the message before sending it. In real life, people aren’t usually that witty, that often. So the IRL date can feel stale.
