Relationships in med school pt 5: Why the traditional date is awesome

The following blog post was inspired by this baller NYT article - "The End of Courtship?" and this quote:

"Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music, and never forget that you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers, and warriors." 

      - Hunter S. Thompson

Here's a 3 point list of how modern technology has ruined dating. 

1) The rise of internet dating sites have made it easier than ever to meet people.

2) The phenomenon of facebook stalking has eliminated any remaining mystery of the first date, and the process of slowly accumulating clues underlying a person's character. 

3) Texting/facebook messaging as a way to flirt. Did I spend years mastering the cross-the-room wink for nothing? 

proposal by text 
go big or go home

As a disclaimer, I have to say that I love technology. It is literally the best thing to ever happen to introverts - which I'm currently writing a post about. I've used technology extensively in my own relationship, in fact I proposed to my wife via text. That's right, via text. If you don't believe me, I have the picture to prove it.

Still... isn't there something special to the traditional date? Traditional dates have that added dash of risk that make them actually worth our time.  Aren't playoff games more fun to watch than regular season games? sidenote - I love the phenomenon when something becomes so overrated that it becomes underrated. That's what happened to the traditional date. It became too expensive to take every cute girl out to a French dinner, but now we've swung too far in the opposite direction and don't invest any money/emotional energy into dating. If I was single, I would be capitalizing on the lack of traditional dating and trying to ask every other cute girl on a traditional date. What girl is saying no to a free dinner or flowers?

Let me tell you something about young people problems - this whole dating topic is a reflection of the modern era - not willing to go all in. Our society has been coddled into a world where every other kid gets a trophy. We've become too fear adverse and in turn we're all wallowing in the land of below average. We'd rather meet girls at big anonymous parties where we're immune to the burn of rejection. 

not actually our first date,
but I look good and no one reads captions anyways

I still remember asking Katie out to coffee for the first time. It was fun analyzing with my friends about how I should ask her out. It was fun feeling nervous around her, trying to decide the perfect time to ask. It was fun thinking about the date for days beforehand. The actual date was ok, but the traditional date is awesome because of all the fun that comes along with it.

I'm here to tell you. The traditional date is where it's at. Our world desperately needs more people willing to take risks and go big or go home. More guys need to be bold - ask girls out, cold, on dates. Girls you just met. Girls you've never had the courage to talk to. Girls you've been friends with your whole life. Shit. You guys are making me look bad. 

See you on the other side,

from ken

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