How Social Distancing Could Force Us To Find Romance Again

As Emma Watson once put it, I am self-partnered, and as a self-partnered woman living in New Orleans, which has quite a high percentage of singles, I can’t help but wonder what social distancing will mean for the dating scene. Will people still meet up in person and risk the health of themselves and others? Will dating come to a screeching halt? Will potential matches understand when we declined their offers to grab a drink in favor of staying home in our sweatpants and screaming into the void as we watch This is Us? I mean, in favor of staying home and self-isolating?

The End Of The Booty Call

I was in bed one evening swiping through dating apps and answering the question, “How’s your quarantine?” when I had a realization:

What are men everywhere going to do for the coming weeks if they can’t match with a woman and ask her to meet him for a drink after only exchanging two messages, one of which is “hey lol”?

What are men going to do if all they can do is talk to us without meeting us? 

What are men going to do to ensure the person they’re crushing on doesn’t lose interest over time? Ask her questions about her life? Text her midday to see how she’s doing? Attempt to woo her?!

A New World of Dating 

Communication and effort put into dating have fallen by the wayside over the years. It’s not to say that romance and courtship don’t exist, but they’re few and far between. We can blame the fall of old-fashioned romance to the rise of social media or being inundated with potential partners on dating apps, but I think the true reason is that we’ve simply become complacent. We’ve gotten a bit lazy. We kind of care less. If one match doesn’t work out, just delete them and find another one. That’s how it works, right?

What are men going to do if all they can do is talk to us without meeting us? 

What if the fact that we’re staying inside and avoiding public spaces means that, instead of halting dating altogether, we shift our idea of traditional dating in public in favor of virtual dating instead? 

Ready or not, Dillon. We’re about to pull a You’ve Got Mail. 

Using Technology To Make Real Romantic Connections

Most of us are practicing social distance at the moment, and for those of us who are prioritizing our health and the health of our loved ones with this socially distant act of love, it’s time we redirect a bit of that love back towards ourselves and snuggle up to our cell phones and laptops to see if sparks can fly. 

Over the past week, I have heard countless stories of singles everywhere taking their dating lives in the direction of tech. They’re keeping in touch with their matches via text, and some are even having FaceTime dates and virtual happy hours. While we have the time to spend creating connections with people utilizing various forms of technology, why not do it? We’re already seeing it happen now with the rise of Instagram live in-home concerts, multi-person Zoom calls, and even poems being written and circulated on Twitter. 

If we’re staying connected with friends and family, why not go for it with romance too? 

We’re human beings. We need connection. And if we’re staying connected with friends and family, why not go for it with romance too? 

Closing Thoughts

Try it. Fire up the apps. Play twenty questions. Get to know one another by communicating with one another. Plus, a huge perk is that you can have the first several “dates” in your pajamas. I mean… that’s a game changer. 

Then, one day, and hopefully very soon, when you do meet in person, and you’re sitting across from them sipping your Libertini (formerly known as quarantini), you’ll know them a little better.

And they’ll know you. 

And if we’re talking math, well, this sounds like the beginnings of a strong positive linear correlation to me. It’s all going up from here.