Still waiting for him to open the door for you?
Ali Steele
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: Entertainment
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With an increase in the reach of mass media and instant gratification, has flirting lost its glamour?
In a time where fast-paced communication - complete with e-mail, wireless internet laptop users, instant messaging, text messaging, and cell phones - is key, it makes sense that the human race is better connected than ever. And why not? This generation can send a text message to China within five seconds, be connected to New York via cell phone in less than that, and simultaneously instant message dozens of people in even less time than that.
Interpersonal relations must be better than ever, right? However, a new development in the last five years is the phenomenon of not only online dating, but the boom of online matchmaking services. The growth of online dating services marks the demise of successful interpersonal relationships and may even enhance the lack of intimate face-to-face flirtation.
With the enormity of instant communication shouldn't singles be able to connect with their potential significant others better than ever? Do young people "flirt" behind computer screens, cute text messages, and via phone satellites? Is all the instant communication blinding this generation from true intimacy and making the classic chase of cat and mouse a thing of the past?
With this instant gratification and lack of intimacy, has flirting lost its glamour?
Does the lack of true intimacy with one another through these translucent screens even hinder singles from finding intimacy when face-to-face?
Interviews with college students from NDNU, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley reveal that most couples on campus are the result of an initial drunken hook-up. On college campuses young people, in search of the object of their desire, plan to do so with the aid of some form of alcohol.
Amanda Dreschler of NDNU suggests that on college campuses, "Nine times out of 10 the hook-up is drunken."
From text messaging to alcohol-induced sex, it seems this generation has moved from a time of flirting with a variety of nuances seasoned with sly gestures, hand written notes, and planned dates - essentially a sense of formality when pursuing the object of desire, to blatant sexuality while masking the intimacy behind alcohol or the screens of cell phones or computers.
In a time where fast-paced communication - complete with e-mail, wireless internet laptop users, instant messaging, text messaging, and cell phones - is key, it makes sense that the human race is better connected than ever. And why not? This generation can send a text message to China within five seconds, be connected to New York via cell phone in less than that, and simultaneously instant message dozens of people in even less time than that.
Interpersonal relations must be better than ever, right? However, a new development in the last five years is the phenomenon of not only online dating, but the boom of online matchmaking services. The growth of online dating services marks the demise of successful interpersonal relationships and may even enhance the lack of intimate face-to-face flirtation.
With the enormity of instant communication shouldn't singles be able to connect with their potential significant others better than ever? Do young people "flirt" behind computer screens, cute text messages, and via phone satellites? Is all the instant communication blinding this generation from true intimacy and making the classic chase of cat and mouse a thing of the past?
With this instant gratification and lack of intimacy, has flirting lost its glamour?
Does the lack of true intimacy with one another through these translucent screens even hinder singles from finding intimacy when face-to-face?
Interviews with college students from NDNU, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley reveal that most couples on campus are the result of an initial drunken hook-up. On college campuses young people, in search of the object of their desire, plan to do so with the aid of some form of alcohol.
Amanda Dreschler of NDNU suggests that on college campuses, "Nine times out of 10 the hook-up is drunken."
From text messaging to alcohol-induced sex, it seems this generation has moved from a time of flirting with a variety of nuances seasoned with sly gestures, hand written notes, and planned dates - essentially a sense of formality when pursuing the object of desire, to blatant sexuality while masking the intimacy behind alcohol or the screens of cell phones or computers.
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