Great piece! Online dating has certainly changed the terrain, I can’t even remember the last time I asked someone out in person or met a couple that first met offline, perhaps not since my college days. To he honest, these days it seems akward to approach someone, in some sense it feels as though you are intruding on their personal space. The internet has reconfigured our offline interactions making them more fraught, especially with strangers. At times, in-person interactions feel ‘too personal’ and ‘too exposing’, when the online mask provides a safe distance to face rejection and to expose some unseemly facets of ourselves.

The great thing about online dating is that it addresses most anxieties quite quickly; you know if someone's attracted to you, if they’re single and if they want you to initiate a convo. Those are important ingredients that in the offline world are not always easy to ascertain.

As for gender roles, I would say that both men and women, especially my peers, are still trying to figure it out. Our ideas of what constitutes a relationship, what constitutes ‘being a man/woman’ are in flux. I also think that these terms and the roles entailed are quickly becoming outmoded. A new vernacular of love, gender, etc. is emerging and we’re only in the cusp of what seems to be a revolution for our species.