Once upon a time — in what we might think of as the “Happy Days” era — courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of these scripts — dating, going steady, delaying sex — was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment. Over the past few decades, these social scripts became obsolete. They didn’t fit the post-feminist era. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules. You would expect a dynamic society to come up with appropriate scripts. But technology has made this extremely difficult. Etiquette is all about obstacles and restraint. But technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments. People are thus thrown back on themselves. They are free agents in a competitive arena marked by ambiguous relationships. Social life comes to resemble economics, with people enmeshed in blizzards of supply and demand signals amidst a universe of potential partners. The opportunity to contact many people at once seems to encourage compartmentalization, as people try to establish different kinds of romantic attachments with different people at the same time. https://codi.ide3.de/s/xyNZGlirB https://codimd.avt-imt.de/s/9kQTtVLS_ https://codimd.home.ins.uni-bonn.de/s/Hkv-5vragx https://codimd.mim-libre.fr/s/yvixEp-bx https://codimd.syssec.org/s/UIHUkQlkH https://diapo.cemea.org/s/GMB6glXQsl https://codimd.rhiobet.sh/s/XKWcaxTkT https://doc.buzzrage.net/s/1Ff23nk4g https://doc.cisti.org/s/Ser62AvU_ https://doc.fung.uy/s/Iqx4KDCs9 https://doc.gnuragist.es/s/ffCfAz53c https://doc.head-publishing.ch/s/CZuRyFLKc https://doc.isotronic.de/s/09AZi20En https://docs.aj42.dk/s/_XtX20st8 https://docs.klg21.de/s/1QdGmdjPQ https://md.farafin.de/s/naxcyGrTN https://pad.batsense.net/s/7JrVBrglI https://pad.ura.design/s/A7XyCZA0d https://editor.painelcupula.com/s/LFmNT5C0W https://bit.ly/4hASkAD https://bit.ly/4nsKpXk https://bit.ly/3Lbrpzn https://bit.ly/43pZt15 https://bit.ly/4hClFL9