This Modern Love: A Yahoo Messenger Love Story

After a very long hiatus, I'm bringing back this blog! Might as well since I'm paying for a domain I don't use. Also, I'm currently unemployed which means I have a lot of time to dick around the world wide web!

(Dick around is probably a phrase I shouldn't use as I am a 27 year old "woman" but whatever.)

Do people still blog? Probably not. Content consumption on social media has changed drastically since our Livejournal, Multiply, Tumblr days. People don't read blog posts as much anymore and short-form video is the best way to get your message across.

Everything has to be fast - condensed in a 2 minute video which can either make or break your brand. No one can be bothered to read about your long press release in someone else's website.  I blame our attention span which is getting worse with each new social media platform. I mean, the digital world is so fast-paced, I had to ask my nephew what a freaking Boomerang is (it's that repetitive video thing on Instagram, not to be confused with Instagram stories. IKR?).

Much like dating, people can't be bothered with long introductions. People want something quick, something fast - a snapchat (see what I did there?) of you and who you are. This should be apparent in your Tinder bio or wherever you find men nowadays.

Quick, think of a witty one-liner that perfectly encapsulates you and plaster that across all your accounts. Post a perfect flat-lay of your perfect life on Instagram to show everyone how cool and collected you are. Snap a story on the art fair you just visited even if you have no idea what's in there - just to show your crush that you "dig" art. Oh and don't even get me started on Ghosting which is the modern day equivalent of getting dumped except people are more chicken now, they'd rather not talk to you at all.

How is that romantic? It's not. Modern dating is not romantic. It is gross.

It wasn't always like this. Dating in the digital space wasn't so bad during the time of Friendster and Yahoo messenger, when being online was still a choice. I still remember the golden days of YM! when everyone you know would be online at the same time: the hours after school and right before bedtime. We'd be sharing memes when it wasn't even called a meme yet, or playing with the newest messenger themes. Cool usernames were everything (ayabrea_019 represent) and the lyrics of your favorite My Chemical Romance song would always be your status.

That irreplaceable feeling when you hear that swoosh notifying you that your crush is finally online (even if your ISP Bonanza load is halfway done and you wish he was online sooner). He then sends you a message, asking about your day, and you start talking until the wee hours of the morning, obviously getting bad stares from your siblings for hogging the only desktop in the house. Finally you say goodnight, there is school the next day anyway. He then changes his status to another line from the same My Chemical Romance song and right at that moment, the world is amazing.

I know this isn't dating per se, but damn was the internet cute.

I will always have my qualms about dating in this day and age. Too many rules of what you should and shouldn't do. Don't reply too soon, he'll think you're too desperate. Don't have political views, he'll think you're too aggressive.

Oh my god. Whatever.

Which now begs the question: how do you do modern dating? You don't. Whatever it is that you do in this god-forsaken age of social media dating, just remember, you do you!