I was thinking about this during my workout yesterday - envisioning what the dating/relationship world would like if a lot of the things we complain about were gone or reduced to a high degree - and then it made me realize it was eerily similar to dating in the 90's. I was thinking about it from a day to day perspective.

1) you venture outside, people are not staring at their phones. There is more of an aire of openness and willingless to interact. this could extend to third spaces such as coffee shops, grocery stores, bars.

2) when you do chat with someone of the opposite sex, you know that you are not competing with the myriad of options on their dating profiles / social media.

Imagine it's a normal saturday. you wake up, clean up and head outside to a coffee shop. as you enter, you notice it's a social environment. people are present, looking at their environment, observing others. some are just chilling reading a book. as you get a coffee, you have an easy conversation with someone next to you in line. when you sit down, you ask what book the a women is reading and you chat about it for 5 minutes. there are no headphones, no faces in phones. Youve been to this shop several times and have gotten to know a few of the patrons.

As you head to the grocery store, someone asks you what you are making - noticing the ingredients you are putting in your basket. as you walk around, you make eye contact with people - and notice a cute guy/girl and smile. people aren't avoiding others, buried in phones/headphones.

it's time to head out to the bar with your guys/girls. finally - you can look your best - maybe you'll meet someone cute that catches your eye! after all, you love meeting people in public and interacting. this is kinda where it happens. you enter the bar and notice tons of chatter / people being present / open and socializing with each other. You chat with a pretty girl for awhile, and she seems exicted - you finally exchange numbers. she mentions how exciting it was to meet you - she hadn't been asked out in over a month by anyone. This is opposed to going out, seeing people on their phones. when you ask out a girl/guy - you know she probably has 2-3 dates that week with other people she met on social media. when you talk to her, she is judging you against the 100 people she swiped on her online dating profile and 50 DMS versus just you.

I lived in this era in the 2000's - is there any way we can bring this back?