“Let me call you Tweetheart”

By

Gerry Niskern

There are red hearts and Cupids everywhere you go. The stores are bursting with chocolates in heart shaped boxes, teddy bears with red bows, and tons of jewelry.  I remember receiving a gold heart locket on Valentine’s Day years ago. I still wear it with the photos of two sweethearts inside.

It’s even easier today for a young man to select a Valentine for his love. He can go online and order any type of Valentine he wants. Doesn’t even have to leave the house. Actually, maybe that’s the problem.

I can’t tell you who is buying the Valentines this year, but I can tell you who isn’t.  The Millennials And Gen. Z too!  That crowd is having none of it. According to statistics a large percentage of their age span has opted out of the entire commitment idea. Dinner and a movie are out and “non-dates” are in.

When a guy wants to see a girl he texts her with a tender message such as, “What’s up” or “Want to join me and some of my friends at the local hangout?” What girl wouldn’t want to hear a romantic invitation like that?

The days of courtship where you actually picked up the phone and asked someone for a date are over. That required an investment of considerable thought, planning, and investment of ego. Today’s convenience of texting, tweeting and e-mail did away with the need for even a little charm.

Guys don’t waste time on long expensive first dates. Dinner at a romantic new restaurant? Scratch that. The woman is lucky to get a tweet to meet up somewhere. The long “get acquainted” first date is no longer necessary. He already knows all about her from Facebook and Google.

The “Hook-up” champion of the campus has carried his habits into his supposedly adult life. Now he’s afraid a formal request for a date will send the wrong message. It might say he’s getting too serious, way too soon. And if he did want to buy some jewelry on Valentines Day for the woman he’s been “meeting up” with for weeks, the Millennium man is hesitant to make the purchase. It’s his lose

Back when Cupid was alive and going strong, my number one son was in first grade He saved his pennies for a long time in order to buy a tiny Valentines box of Whitmans with two chocolates inside for the little red-haired girl in his class. Now that kid wasn’t afraid of commitment!