Thank you for the thoughtful article, Danielle. I always appreciate your perspective. That said, “just say no” to dating apps is about as effective in my opinion as the campaign was for drugs in the 80s. Well-intentioned, but unrealistic.
Pandora is out of the box; and just like every other technological convenience whether it is Amazon, Seamless, or otherwise, people will choose it over the more “friction-ed” options. Plus, as you astutely pointed out, COVID-19 did a number on heterosexual courting rituals.
I say all this as one of the “1%”. As somebody who is sober and introverted, despite being a performing artist and rather gregarious one on one, I have very little, if any interest in hanging out in the bars trying to talk to women who often give off the vibe that they would be more interested in a Brazilian wax than having a conversation with a stranger. 
The Internet has been a boon for me, in a way, if you consider short-term sexual relationships, “winning”. Just like pornography, I fear that this short-term mating strategy has negatively impacted my ability to pair bond long-term with a woman. As you pointed out in your article, many men say “why not?!” and are quietly jealous of men like me. What they don’t consider is living the “golden years” alone, looks and swagger long gone, cobbling together some kind of community out of fellow never-marrieds that opted for easy instead of meaningful.
So, here’s to 2023; may we all find a way to return to less convenient more meaningful ways to date. Now, if you excuse me, I have to order products I don’t need on Amazon from the toilet.
Thank you for the thoughtful article, Danielle. I always appreciate your perspective. That said, “just say no” to dating apps is about as effective in my opinion as the campaign was for drugs in the 80s. Well-intentioned, but unrealistic.
Pandora is out of the box; and just like every other technological convenience whether it is Amazon, Seamless, or otherwise, people will choose it over the more “friction-ed” options. Plus, as you astutely pointed out, COVID-19 did a number on heterosexual courting rituals.
I say all this as one of the “1%”. As somebody who is sober and introverted, despite being a performing artist and rather gregarious one on one, I have very little, if any interest in hanging out in the bars trying to talk to women who often give off the vibe that they would be more interested in a Brazilian wax than having a conversation with a stranger. 
The Internet has been a boon for me, in a way, if you consider short-term sexual relationships, “winning”. Just like pornography, I fear that this short-term mating strategy has negatively impacted my ability to pair bond long-term with a woman. As you pointed out in your article, many men say “why not?!” and are quietly jealous of men like me. What they don’t consider is living the “golden years” alone, looks and swagger long gone, cobbling together some kind of community out of fellow never-marrieds that opted for easy instead of meaningful.
So, here’s to 2023; may we all find a way to return to less convenient more meaningful ways to date. Now, if you excuse me, I have to order products I don’t need on Amazon from the toilet.