There are a lot of things I don’t understand (although I would never really openly admit that). And given the right situation (and by situation I mean alcohol and boredom) I can convince a total stranger that I’m an expert at rocket science. But what I will never really understand is how dependent the dating world has become on impersonal forms of communication. WHY, if you are a 29 year-old successful businessman do you need to use text message to ask me out? Is it laziness? Is it easier to keep track of which girl you said what to if it’s stored in your phone? Lack of confidence? Fear of rejection? Unlimited texting and you want to take full advantage of your plan? WHAT IS IT???

I’ve said it before, but it still always stumps me, if you’re trying to make a connection with someone, whether it be to start dating, start a relationship, or to have a one night stand, why would you use such and impersonal mode of communication? And don’t even get me started on people that use Facebook to ask someone on a date. If you’re using Facebook I can only assume you don’t have that person’s phone number and I can definitely assume there’s probably a good reason why.

So here we are, totally dependent on our phones, used to having 3-5 minutes to think of a smart and witty text to reply with [that we’ve run past at least two of our friends to make sure it’s perfect]. And then suddenly it’s the date and you’re face to face with this person, lost for conversation and you’re totally f—-d. All of a sudden he doesn’t seem as charming, and you don’t know what to say when he brings up a Wes Anderson movie because you don’t have the 4 minutes you need to Google it and pretend you know what he’s talking about. Then the date goes horribly and you don’t hear from him again.

Most of our bad dates and mismatches could be avoided if we actually took 10 minutes to talk to this person before having dinner with them, because if all he talks about is hockey, alpacas and his mother, well you know what to expect on the date then (but if he’s seriously talking about alpacas, keep the date and ask for a sweater).

All I ask is that we try to start making an effort to actually communicate in a slightly more meaningful way. Because really when you think about it, asking someone out over text message is the modern day equivalent of throwing a note in someone’s middle school locker and running away as fast as you can.