Single in Sydney: Sarah laments if dating was better in the noughties and her findings might shock you
AFTER a friend’s Facebook match goes silent, Sarah compares what life was like when she started dating and how it compares to now.
Manly
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JOURNALIST Sarah Swain has been single (but dating) for longer than she cares to remember. That’s because it’s tough out there, as any single will tell you, so to bring hope to others across the city, she’s sharing her no-holds-barred adventures on the Sydney single scene every week.
Did Tech Kill Dating?
Some friends and I were lamenting “the olden days” over dinner at The Little Viet Kitchen in Manly the other night.
You know, around the time Pokemon was out the first time, Ghostbusters was out the first time, and ... before Ricky Martin came out.
You see, some lovestruck bloke from one of the roaming dinner parties had tracked down one of my pals.
He’d located her by finding another one of the dinner group on dating app happn, and sending her a message to ask for the other girls’ full name.
And once he had that, he found the object of his desire on Facebook, and sent her a message.
A lot of effort to go to.
How romantic, you think!
And my friend got Sherlock Holmes’ message, and was quite happy to hear from him
So she sent him a nice reply.
And that little round picture of his face told her he’d seen it.
But despite his stalking just a few days before, he didn’t bother to reply.
What a waste of time. And technology.
Sigh, we all sighed, leaning our chins on our hands and our elbows on the table.
If only things were like the used to be, back when we started dating, in the late nineties and early noughties . (cue that tingly harp dream music they use in cheesy TV shows …)
Dating Then
You’d don your new Sportsgirl frock, best hair scrunchy and a big spritz of CK One for a night at your town’s cheesiest club, with the aim of snogging a random on the dance floor.
Dating Now
Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Chat. Never hear from them again. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Chat. Unmatch them. Once every 1344 swipes, actually arrange a date.
Dating Then
You could look up the object of your crush in the phone book, where you’d find their address and home phone number. Well, as long as their last name wasn’t Smith. (A colleague once called everybody with the same name in the phone book to track down a girl. It lasted two months before she dumped him, but still). And then you’d actually have to make the call.
Dating Now
You can look your bloke up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or, if he’s a hipster, some new social media site nobody knows about yet. There you can find out what he had for dinner last night, where he went on holiday, and if he’s actually engaged (it happened to a friend).
Dating Then
First date? You better be on time as once you’ve both left the house, that’s it.
Dating Now
“I’m running five minutes late, sorry.”
Dating Then
Not heard from him? Wait by the phone. That would be the land line phone plugged into the wall. Been out? Check your answering machine, ala Bridget Jones.
Dating Now
Check to see if he’s sent you an iMessage, Facebook message, a text or a What’s App. Maybe he’s tweeted you? Or he could have written on your Facebook wall. Nothing? Maybe he emailed?
Dating Then
Second Date. A trip to the cinema to see Finding Nemo where you’d sit on flippy red seats.
Dating Now
Trip to the Gold Class or Hoyts Lux cinema to see Finding Dory (unless you’re at the Netflix and Chill stage).
Dating Then
You’d make them a mix tape, painstakingly recorded from a ghetto blaster. If you were lucky it’d have a CD player, if not, you’d have to record songs from the radio. Did you have the top 40 on a Sunday night in Oz like we did in the UK? I miss that sense of achievement you got when you managed to chop off the DJ talking.
Dating Now
Email them a Spotify playlist.
Dating Then
New boyfriend turns up at your house, unexpected
Dating Now
Your doorbell hasn’t rang without you expecting someone since 2009.
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