In A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Shakespeare said that, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind…”
Several hundred years later, Shakespeare could have rephrased that to say, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the app.”
With the birth of online dating, the Internet has redefined what it means to find love.
As a culture, we’re all about fast consumption and instant gratification.
We see it everywhere: fast food, Instant Play on Netflix and same-day shipping.
Now we’re seeing it with our own relationships.
When Shakespeare wrote of love, it was with long prose and epic tales of romance.
With our “need it now and fast” mentality, finding love has been altered.
And with the conception of dating apps, finding “love” is as simple as a screen touch.
Tinder, Grindr, Zoosk and OkCupid are the main apps for “dating” — all varying in presentation.
Tinder, arguably the most popular of the batch, operates on a “swipe right, swipe left” functionality.
“Swipe left” means that you’re not interested in the person, and “swipe right” means you could be on your way to finding that lucky partner.
If both you and your partner both “swipe right,” you’re then prompted to initiate a conversation.
The motion of swiping potential mates primarily based on the way they look has a game-like feel to it, producing an addictive quality for the user.
Despite the far cry these apps are from Shakespearian love, I don’t believe they will be the downfall of classic romanticism.
Deep down we all want to find that person to make us a little less lonely, and these apps provide users with some form of companionship, no matter how frivolous.
They could also potentially match you up with someone you end up caring for — ending possibly with true love?
“Today, people are experimenting in so many different ways. I definitely believe true love can be found in any medium,” said Delta Student Alexandra Elder.
With this being said, we must learn to try to pay attention to the slower things in this “fast and easy” life.
Love should be a thing that grows and evolves over time — there should be a little bit of struggle.
These apps take away the dirty work from the process of soul mate searching to fit into our impatient mindset.
I believe that searching for love shouldn’t be as fast as getting a burger through the drive-thru.
Love takes time and it’s worth waiting for.
It’s a bumpy road and I’m skeptical to believe that it can be bought in the app store.
Call it old-fashioned or behind the times but Shakespeare had a point when he said: “the course of true love never did run smooth.”