Monday, January 9, 2012

Actual Fear of Virtual Dates

Other than the utter lack of flying cars and jetpacks, I love living in the future.  But I have no idea what advice I'll be giving my twin daughters about dating.  

Okay, I have some pretty unyielding ideas about the NATURE and CHARACTER of any relationship they enter, and maybe I should recommend they not trade dates (they're identical twins), but if social media and virtual living continue on their current trajectory, I think I've got a caveman's chance at a cotillion of understanding the mechanics of whatever courting is becoming.

Come to think of it, what I know about "traditional dating" is pretty limited.  First date with my husband, we went to a movie -- a terrible, terrible movie, featuring bestiality, which cost me my laundry money for the week and was preceded by four hours of believing he'd stood me up, topped only by believing he was mocking me throughout the date and horus after.  Not a good first date, but a memorable story.  Check back -- I'll tell it sometime...

I thought Half-Life was something of a fluke when it was new.  Of course, I thought that about Sims and MMOGs and (okay, I'm a neanderthal) Twitter, My Space, Facebook (yeah, I get it, I must hang my head in shame), and now there are hundreds (thousands?) of social media hubs that are apparently so engrossing, people are doing their darndest to get as virtually close to actual sex with one or more partners who may not even exist outside the ether...  When I was a tyke, my parents told me one of the major goals of dating was to see and get to know the real person behind the nerves and social mask, and to muster the gumption to come out from behind mine.  It's quite possible by the time my girls are dating, teens'll be romantically pursuing -- heck, designing! -- ideal A.I. soul-mates instead of bothering with real people.

I have daughters.  They're gonna date.  Eek!

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