“Dating Naked”- a wake-up call for the digital generation

Maybe it’s time we stop hiding from each other.

In case you’ve missed it, there’s now a reality show on cable TV about single people going out on dates, naked.

Why didn’t I think of that?

Meeting a potential spouse/partner for the first time completely unclothed seems like a no-brainer; after all, aren’t first dates all about revealing oneself to a potential mate and asking for the same in return with the intention of figuring out quickly whether or not there‘s chemistry and the potential for a long-term relationship? If the hope for a first date is that both parties will bare their souls, why not bare their bodies as well? What’s everyone hiding anyway?

A concept for a TV show such as this wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the complete and utter takeover of our lives by the internet, mobile phones, and apps that do everything for us including finding someone to date, arranging the date, securing transportation for the date, paying for the date, and sending flowers after the date, if the date warrants such things.

Sounds to me like we may need to put our phones down for a bit and get back to some real living.

A television series about naked first dates is a passive-aggressive way of suggesting that we, as a society, are hiding behind a metaphorical layer of clothing, keeping us from revealing, or being revealed by, our true selves.

We’ve become so dependent on wielding technology for every facet of our lives that in many ways we’ve become hidden from each other, in a physical sense. Facebook and text messaging have replaced the telephone — we no longer need to call each other when we can avoid interaction and quickly fire off 140 characters through Twitter to convey our sentiments. No room for any messy emotion or unnecessary dialogue to come to a mutual understanding — text message and emoticons are just too dang easy.

So it seems natural that, given this, we’d be turned on by the idea of watching fairly average-looking people get naked and meet a stranger on national TV — as a way of overcompensating for our desire to remain hidden from each other.

It may also have something to do with the dumbing-down of the current pop-culture generation who are being raised on the internet and YouTube, where porn is as common as a music video. Being a child of the 1980s, I had to work really hard to get my hands on any kind of material showcasing women with their clothes off — these days, Google provides a gateway to an infinite number of choices and permutations to suit even the most obscure fantasies.

I hope that we will soon start to develop app-fatigue and get back to a truly physical existence. A utopia of physicality, if you will:

Single people meeting other single people in public places, walking up and introducing themselves vs. shopping for sex through Tinder and other swipe-able mating apps. Food purchased in a store and not delivered. Music-lovers re-discovering the joy and tangibility of vinyl over digital, compressed music files. Facebook finally abandoned just like MySpace was when the company started focusing more on achieving their own objectives and less on the user experience.

In this utopia, we won’t wish each other happy birthday with a status update, we’ll pick up the G-d damn phone, or even stop by (imagine that) our friend’s house to say a good old fashioned “Happy Birthday”. Maybe even sing it if you’re willing to.

And most importantly, we won’t find ourselves entertained by watching naked people meet other naked people. Perhaps, in this messianic age to come, we’ll search Google for a nudist camp where we can see this kind of thing in the real, physical world.

Until then, keep watching “Dating Naked” and keep your iPhones handy, you just may get a text or tweet or Facebook message from a potential mate.