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Dating: The Family By Philip N. Cohen

Dating is a common behavior that is seen all over the world. Most people have experience dating. Dating is a common theme seen today and back in the past. Most people start dating around the age of 13 years old. I believe North American dating relationships are heading towards more of online interaction such as online dating or meeting someone online. In the book The Family by Philip N. Cohen he states “the combination of romantic ideals and utilitarian purposes can make for some elaborate and extended searches for the perfect partner” (Cohen 237).

With online dating it is much easier to find a person that you are looking for and it gives way to an easier access to dating. What I mean by dating relationships heading more towards online is that in today’s world technology plays a big part in our social interaction which in turns affects the way dating is seen. A common theme when technology wasn’t a big part of our lives is that most people met face to face within a social environment such as a bar or a party.

Now today, technology evolved the game of dating such that if takes little effort to meet someone. All it takes today is a just a click of a button and you’ll be match with someone that shares the same interest as you and the next thing you know you begin dating just like that. We can use the means of social media to just find a man or woman that interests you. North American dating relationships I believe are headed to more online interaction which tends to make some trends of dating continue or become reversed.

Trends I see continuing in dating are that guys are suppose plan the date and take initiative, expected to pay for the first date, being a gentlemen, in a dating relationship the couple should meet the parents, and a dating scenario is expected to be the same among others. The trends of men planning the date and taking the initiative, expected to pay for the first date and being a gentlemen is something I still see continuing because of the way social interactions were passed down from the past generations and the social script that society put into place for men.

From the book The Family the author states “most men as well as women believe that the man should extend the invitation, provide the transportation, open the doors, cover expenses for the first date” (Cohen 234). This trend for men in a dating relationship will continue as stated before because of the social script, it is a behavior for men in this certain situation. When asking my peers about the trend of men planning the date and taking the initiative, expected to pay for the first date and being a gentlemen they agreed that this trend will continue and will not be reversed as some said it makes them feel masculine among their own peers.

In a dating relationship I feel that a couple will always meet each other parent is a trend that will continue because if a relationship becomes serious the couple would become more comfortable with each other to show them to their family. A dating scenario being the same among others will most likely continue because most people would likely take their date to something simple nothing extravagant such as going out to eat dinner or watching a movie especially a first date.

In a dating relationship some trends will always be the same no matter the time of age, but also some trends will be reversed because of time. Trends that I see being reversed are girls are starting to pay or using more of their money in the relationship, living together without being married, long distance relationships are more acceptable and better maintained than before, the dating system changing, having sexual interaction on the first date, and same gender relationships.

With the way society is today and the perception people have today women are starting to pay for first date and using their money in the relationship instead of just the men. I see this being reversed as women are more involved today than in the past where women were just seen as objects for men. Living together without being married is more common today than in the past. In the past living together without being married was unacceptable and seen as something wrong in the eyes of other.

Long distance relationship is a trend being reversed in a dating relationship because the influence of technology helping couples stay in touch and online dating is a behavior that is not uncommon anymore like in the past. With the dating system in the past it was all about courtship and getting to know the person, but today we skip some stages of the dating system and it more about having different relationships with other until you find the right one. Sexual interaction on the first date is more common today than in the past as the dating culture is evolving.

People are more acceptable to having sexual interaction on the first date because of the way society shows off sex. Opposite sex relationship was more acceptable than same sex relationships, but I see this trend being reversed as laws today are approving same sex marriage and people are more open minded and tolerant to same sex relationships than in the past. In a dating relationship trends play a key part in how we interact among others. Hooking up can be defined in many ways among adults. Hooking up is a common theme today among adults.

From the book The Family the author states that hooking up is a casual sexual or romantic encounter What I believe to be the definition of hooking up is when two people male or female having sexual interactions for one time with no strings attached. I also define hooking up as when two people have sexual interactions without being in a committed relationship. When speaking among my peers about their definition of hooking up I noticed that their definition were similar to mine. Most of peers called hooking up when two adults get together for sexual interactions or they called it a one night stand.

One of mine peer did not have the same definition hooking up as me and my other peers that I talked to. This person defined hooking up as a means of dating when two people meet for the first time and hit it off from the moment they met and start dating the following day. This peer of mine also said that hooking up was when someone sets up two individuals to meet and get to know each other without the sexual interaction that myself and my other peers first defined it. Hooking up is seen more culturally acceptable to society and is more common than being in a committed relationship.

Hooking up defined by me and my peers all seem to reach the same definition. A big hit today in the dating world is an app called Tinder which is like an online dating website, but for our mobile devices. When signing up with Tinder one of the requirements for using the app is linking your Facebook and there is no other way to use the app without a Facebook account. Once you link your Facebook account there is no other requirements to use the app. The layout of Tinder is simple, when using Tinder, users are given an image of another user and can swipe left or right for their options.

When swiping right users are showing interest in that other user, but when swiping left the user does not show interest in that person. When swiping right of the user you interested in the other user would get a notification saying that there is a person that is interested in you and if that person likes you back you can then send each other messages to get to know each other more. Navigation of the app is fairly easy as it requires the action of just swiping your screen left or right to see users that are near you. Tinder offers a simple and easy way of meeting people near you that might interest you and maybe lead to something bigger.

Tinder offers a lot of pros and a lot of cons when using the app. The pros of Tinder is the simple use of swiping left or right, meeting people near you, uses Facebook to tell if people are real or not, and quick interaction. The cons of Tinder is you don’t know if a user has the same interest as you unless you like their image, images can be misleading, if a user doesn’t like your photo back then you can never get to know the person, and the use of a user image cannot determine how they are. With this app you are given the power to decide who interests you.

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