Ah, romance, where art thou? Today, when we take an interest in someone we simply thrust our phone into their hands. Seductively, we say:
“Add me on Facebook.”
Some of us even wait until we get home to send a friend request. We’re too scared to show our interest in person so instead, we slide into their DMs in the comfort of our own homes.
It’s true, romance is in crisis. Honestly speaking, half of us are even too bloody scared to exchange our number for fear of coming across “too intense.”
And so I find myself longing for a more romantic time… the early 2000s. A time when flirting IRL was something we did candidly and love gestures came in a variety of cool, quirky and fun forms.
The Landline Call
Remember talking to a crush on the landline at the wee age of 13? They’d ring the home phone, zero warning text – just a spontaneous ring. You’d talk for so long you’d have to manoeuvre yourself into all sorts of weird sitting positions to maintain blood flow. No emojis here. No ambiguity. Just a voice on the end of the line.
The Mix CD
This love gesture demonstrated a level of effort that people just don’t put into dating anymore. Gone are the days when people would make a customised CD cover made out of paper, labelling all the songs on the back in their very own handwriting. The Spotify playlist has taken its place and even then, they’re a rarity.
The E-Card
I’m not actually sure if I miss this gesture but it still highlights the death of romance. These days, a romantic online gesture is to put our partner’s initials in our bio or post one thousand pictures of them on Instagram. Ain’t nothing personal or special about that. I want glittery pixelated roses and a sh*tty font E-card to zoom into my mailbox mid-arvo on a Wednesday. Christ, am I really asking for too much?
Custom-Made Jewellery
Gone are the days when your crush would give you an ugly handwoven bracelet they’ve picked up at some random street market or Westfield. Or, even more romantic, an engraved piece of jewellery. Receiving a “personalised” souvenir signifying someone’s fat crush on you is sort of nice, actually. We don’t do that anymore. Instead, we go for brunch on a Sunday… Every. Single. Sunday.
The Boyfriend Drop-In
What a classic love gesture. This one can come off as creepy and intense but it’s all about the execution. The boyfriend drop-in denotes a time when someone’s bae would rock up to school at recess on a 30-degree day with a Slurpee in hand. This is the type of night in shining armour that modern-day daters deserve and one that, unfortunately, no longer exists.
You can’t turn back time, but reflecting on these romantic gestures brings a certain kind of hope. If once upon a time, we belonged to a society where courting someone existed outside of the online realm, perhaps we can again. Perhaps there are people out there who still believe in the power of the phone call.