How Technology is Ruining Romance

Technology makes a lot of things possible that are detrimental to society. One of them is Tinder and other hook up apps.

These days, you can swipe for love.

These days, you can swipe for sex.

And people are doing it.

There’s a problem, though.

Swiping isn’t romantic.

Swiping is clinical.

Swiping is sordid.

If you swipe 15 times and end up sleeping with 15 different people, and then wake up to discover that your soul feels empty, and you now want a real, meaningful relationship, how do you make the switch?

Swipe again?

You see romance is about the story.

Romance doesn’t happen easily.

Romance doesn’t happen often.

Part of its beauty is in its rarity, in its mystery, in its serendipity.

I have a very hard time believing that you can come up with a romantic story about swiping for hook ups.

And this hook up business will systematically destroy people’s self-esteem – just the opposite of what romance does.

There are a lot of things that are happening today because of technology that makes me pause and ask the question, Just because we can, does it mean we should?

Swiping for hook ups is at the top of that list.

Photo credit: Michael Coghlan/Flickr.com.