Dating, when our grandparents were young, was drastically different from what we consider being in a relationship now. Have you ever wondered what dating was like for your parents or even your grandparents when they were in high school? How did a boy ask a girl out on a date? What was going out on a date like for them? How did they communicate with each other when they weren’t together? These are all questions that we’ve probably had at some point.

There wasn’t a “talking” stage back then and the origin of that concept still remains unknown. Back then, a guy asked a girl on a date. This “dating” was similar to our “talking” phase all of us teens seem to be in today. What they considered “going steady” was what we consider dating or “going out” now. There wasn’t “talking” beforehand, you were simply asked to go out on date and it went on from there. It was a much simpler process.

Over many generations, relationships and the concept of dating has changed immensely. Being in a relationship in different time periods meant different things. Dating and being in a relationship during our grandparents’ time was very different than it was during our parents’ time. It’s the same way when comparing dating and being in a relationship in our parents’ time to our time now.

My grandparents, Dave and Vera Tedys, have been married for 51 years. They met back when they were still in school and they were neighbors but never really knew each other. They hadn’t known each other very well, yet, when they went on their first date, my grandpa just very simply asked if they could go out one day and it all started from there.

“I saw her walking down the street when she was on her way to church and I asked if I could go with her,” Dave said, “and after we went to church, we walked around town for a while and got milkshakes together.”

My grandpa was in the service, so they wrote each other letters and when he was home they were able to talk face to face every day, since they were neighbors. There weren’t any cell phones, or texting or any kind of social media back then to communicate with each other.

Many people argue that things were much simpler back then. Boys were able to ask girls out on a date right on the spot in person without much of a problem. Today, people go through the trouble of getting someone’s phone number to talk rather than just walking up to someone and making conversation. This is because you had to talk to each other face to face all the time rather than just texting or communicating through technology.

Because of this, there is a lack of connection in most relationships, in this day and age. Many people find it difficult to sit down and have a real, personal conversation with someone. People have become so accustomed to communicating through technology that they now feel more comfortable having a conversation over text rather than sitting right next to someone and actually talking with them.

Social media also has made relationships much different now compared to relationships before as well.

“I think that with all of the social media involved there is a lot more drama involved now; a lot more people’s opinions are involved in relationships,” Mr. Nate Langelli said.

There wasn’t any of that back then, since there wasn’t a way of putting everything out there. There was most likely drama within relationships to a certain extent, but it has certainly gotten much worse throughout the years.

Although some people may argue that being in a relationship and dating years ago was better and others may argue that it’s better now, we can all agree that dating has changed greatly over the years and it’s definitely much different now than it was in the past.